I like giving at Christmas, and, despite the fact that I like receiving, I usually end up asking my family and friends not to buy me anything, especially when I'm not in desperate need of anything. Despite my requests, though, I got a present from my brother, sister-in-law and two little nephews this year, a new Barbie doll.
I have already revealed my addiction to Barbie dolls in a previous post but this is not just the umpteenth Barbie doll for my collection, it’s a very special one that taps into three different obsessions of mine: Barbie dolls, the fashion/cinema dichotomy and horror films. The present indirectly ties in with a special 2009 celebration, Barbie's 50th anniversary, and with the Barbie fashion show that will take place in February next year at New York Fashion Week.
Indeed the Barbie doll I got for Christmas celebrates the 45th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds and represents the film heroine, Melanie Daniels, played in the movie by actress and model Tippi Hedren, being attacked by three vicious (plastic) ravens.
The doll is a perfect recreation of the actress: she wears a green dress and jacket, brown handbag and court shoes, a golden plastic necklace, bracelet and earrings and sports a perfectly coiffed ‘60s hairstyle. Being the doll a
Barbie she obviously looks rather glamorous, but also slightly kitsch
and not very scary, despite the fact she’s not wearing her perennial
smile on her lips.
Hedren’s costumes in The Birds were designed by Edith Head one of my favourite American costume designers, who won throughout her career nine Academy Awards, and this is an extra reason why I like this doll so much.
In the last few years there have been so many Barbie dolls inspired by the main characters of famous films such as The Wizard of Oz or My Fair Lady, or by movie icons like Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor, but I find this one much nicer, maybe for her unusual connection with a horror classic. As I said, I don't like asking for presents, but, though I wouldn't mind the $500 volume entitled Barbie and published by Assouline, would there be any chance of getting a "Psycho" Barbie or a Mario Bava “Blood & Black Lace” Barbie for next Christmas?
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