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On this day in history, March 9, 1959, Barbie makes fashionable world debut at New York Toy Fair
Enjoying a unique distinction as both a hugely successful child's toy and a global style icon, Barbie debuted on the world stage on this day in history, March 9, 1959.
Lithe, buxom and 11½ inches tall, Barbie wore a zebra-striped black-and-white swimsuit plus over-sized sunglasses, with her long hair — blonde or brunette — in carefree beach-ready ponytail at the North American International Toy Fair on fashionable Fifth Avenue in New York City.
The experts were not impressed by the full-grown woman pitched as a doll for young girls.
But the girls of America, and then the world, soon proved the experts wrong.
"Toy buyers were skeptical because Barbie was unlike the baby and toddler dolls that were popular at the time," toy maker Mattel writes in the online history of its most famous and still most profitable product.
"They doubted she would be successful, but Barbie took the world by storm, letting girls imagine their futures like never before from that moment on."
The first Barbie dolls cost $3 each.
Mattel sold 300,000 in the first year alone.
The company has moved more than one billion Barbie dolls in the six-plus decades since, with consumers purchasing about 58 million dolls per year.
Barbie today costs from $10.99 to $55 each at Mattel.com — with the most coveted of all time netting six figures in auction.
"I wanted to create a doll that showed girls … that they could be anything," Barbie creator Ruth Handler, who founded Mattel Inc. with her husband Elliott Handler in 1945, is often quoted as saying.
Barbie broke down barriers and conquered new worlds.
Astronaut Barbie launched in 1965, four years before men reached the moon.
CEO Barbie ruled the boardroom in 1985.
President Barbie took the oath of office in 1992.
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Barbie was joined in the toy aisles by a male companion, Ken, in 1961. The world welcomed Black and Hispanic Barbie in 1980.
Barbie and Ken were named for the Handlers' real-life children, Barbara and Kenneth.
Ruth Handler was inspired to create a grown-up doll for children during a trip she made to Germany in the 1950s.
"She spotted the Bild Lilli doll, who was an adult doll based off a comic strip," the magazine of Swedish auction house Barnebys writes in a comprehensive history of "the world's most popular doll."
Handler pitched the idea to her husband — and Barbie soon hit the runways of the toy world. But not without legal drama.
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Adds Barnebys, "The inventors of the Bild Lilli doll sued Mattel for copyright infringement, but Mattel ended up buying the rights for Bild Lilli in 1963 for $21,600 (equivalent to over $200,000 today)."
Mattel provides a detailed biography of Barbie: Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, she hails from Willows, Wisconsin, where she attended high school, and her favorite color is her own unique shade of "Barbie pink."
The most expensive Barbie on record, licensed by Mattel for Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi, netted $302,500 in auction — donated to breast cancer research.
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The poshest of all Barbies sported a necklace with real emerald-cut Australian pink diamonds.
An Andy Warhol portrait of Barbie, created for fashion designer BillyBoy, was sold by Christie's in 2014 for $1.1 million.
Barbie has stayed relevant throughout the decades without losing her eternal appeal as both fashion trend-setter and aspirational model for the women of the future.
"Unlike most dolls at the time, Barbie was a grown-up — a teenage fashion model who could date, drive and wear fabulous clothes," writes the National Museum of American History.
"While often criticized for her unrealistic physical proportions and for promoting gender stereotypes, Barbie has also evolved with the times to reflect social and cultural changes in American culture," the same source said.
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