The end of the millennium

I'm not american but I remember, being a teen at the end of the millennium, how we tended to look to USA and, inevitably, being influenced by the things we saw in movies, fashion and ads and, at that moment, we were quite enamored with what in our minds we idealized as the AmericanSpirit.

Those young students that were portraited in the Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein ads spoke of youth, diversity, moderated mimimalism, university and outdoor sports and were living what we were ager to live next because, as Ruth Handler said and, I never get tired to remember, "Little girls doesn't want to be moms, they want to be older girls..." I will never tire to remember either what a wonderful compass is Barbie to reflect all the changes in history specially the american and therefore the occidental world ones.

At the end of the 90s Barbie underwent a change just as drastic as the millennium itself and left behind the image of its golden age changing face, body and style to come to embody the new American spirit that looked at the New York Fashion Week where Ralph Lauren had combined wide satin skirts with more casual garments and cropped tops. We can see this trend reflected in the Jewel Girl Barbie launched in 2000 but probably designed the year before when Ralph Lauren collection was presented and when Gwyneth Paltrow picked up her Academy Award for Shakespeare in love in a minimalist pink Ralph Lauren dress with a skirt very similar in color and shape to this particular Barbie.

Barbie's next millennium change was completed by a less suggestive body, the belly button, with less bust and a more "childish" face that made Barbie the perfect and idealized "ad" to reflect the American youth. Soon a bling bling, that was already beginning to be felt in the air, burst in with force and Bratz did check the Queen!

by The Barbiest