- I feel like to me, Barbie's were mostly like
plastic things to practice sex on with other Barbie's.
(upbeat music)
- Barbies.
- A lot of us grew up with them.
- There was Superstar Barbie.
- Astronaut Barbie.
- And all the Holiday Barbies.
- We loved them so much.
- But never thought we could be them.
- Until today.
- It's Lady Like we're getting transformed.
- Transformed.
- Into our favorite Barbies.
- I grew up as an only child, so my experience
with Barbies was quite robust.
- Barbies for me was right I was into
right before I got into American Girl Dolls.
- My Barbies kinda served as a fun way to be
making friends and to be establishing bonds
with those other girls that I was playing with.
- I would do their hair, I would change their clothes,
I would cut their hair, also.
- My mom was super into Barbies in the 60s.
And so I had all of her old 60s Barbies too.
I feel like all of my Barbie choices as a kid
were made entirely based on the outfits,
and not based on what I wanted to be.
- I had a bunch of variations of the Chrissy dolls.
But today, I chose to get transformed into Black Barbie.
- Sparkle Beach Barbie, Teresa edition.
- Totally Hair Barbie,
because I had many Totally Hair Barbies,
and I cut all of their Totally Hair right off.
- I liked her because she had tan-ish skin, brown-ish hair.
I remember looking at her and being like
oh, I think she kind of looks like me.
Teresa is wearing kind of a purple, sparkly,
bedazzled bikini situation.
This swim suit style is definitely
not something I would choose for myself.
I think on a Barbie it's like okay, cool.
It never is something I would normally wear.
- She was the first black Barbie just given the Barbie name.
There were black Barbies before her,
but their names were Francy and Christy.
And they were like the friends and the sidekicks.
The first black Barbie is super dope,
because it was the first time that a black Barbie
doll was the center of the universe and wasn't a sidekick.
Black Barbie is wearing this really pretty red gown.
That's a little scantily clad with a high slit.
There's this beautiful gold piece that goes around her neck,
that's attached to the dress that I love.
And she just has natural hair kind of frow vibe.
Black Barbie definitely looks like
she could have been in The Supremes.
- Totally Hair Barbie is the best-selling Barbie to date.
They sold one hundred million dollars worth of these
Barbies in the first year it came out.
Which makes total sense, because people probably
kept cutting the hair off.
I loved Totally Hair Barbie's outfit.
She had this crazy dress with this like weird print.
And the dress meets her right below the crotch.
She also had a very similar hair texture to me.
I also have hair that looks like it fell asleep
in a crimper and you pull it out and you're like
oh okay I guess.
Also Totally Hair Barbie has a headband
that you could also use a belt.
Can you imagine having a headband that you could
just be like oh I don't know, I need a belt.
I guess I'll just stick it around my waist.
I don't think I'm gonna look like a Barbie.
I think I'm gonna look like an actress
in a John Waters film.
- It's Teresa time.
Let's go girls.
- We're the photographers for today.
We're gonna be taking photos of these
girls turned into Barbies.
Well, Barbie proportions.
I think the hardest part will be nailing the poses.
- We'll see how they do.
- Ready?
(cinematic music)
- This is what we're trying to recreate here.
- I'm gonna feel like Tyra Banks in Disney's Life Size.
- Poor Barbie can't even move her elbows.
It's all in the shoulders.
- Keep the arms the same, like a Barbie.
And only rotate them at your shoulders.
- Like that?
- Barbies pose is such a weird, unnatural pose.
But it seems like it's maximized to make her seem
as sexual as possible.
- I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun trying
to embody Barbie.
And doing her pose.
And really trying to be stiff.
- I think seeing myself looking like Teresa
is going to be really weird.
Because she always seemed kind of removed from me.
It's like oh we have some similarities,
but I never felt like I was her or she was me.
- Oh my gosh, this is so hard.
(laughs)
- That was a workout.
- Yep.
- Open your eyes as much as you can.
- I didn't realize how big Barbie's eyes were.
In order to get your eyes so there as big as Barbies,
you have to look a little unhinged.
- Alright, head more this way.
Yeah, there you go.
- Also, left arm down a little bit.
Yep.
- I think the hardest part was standing on my tip toes.
Because Teresa's feet are never flat.
- That's really good.
- We're good.
- Yeah?
- Yay!
- There's more transformation to be done.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I'm excited to see the finished product.
I want to see what I look like
as the actual 1980 Black Barbie.
(upbeat music)
- Alright, so today is the day.
- Today I am seeing myself Photoshopped
into Sparkle Beach Barbie.
- It's been a couple weeks, and anticipation has been high.
- I'm a little nervous.
I know I'm not gonna look like a human.
But that's okay, I mean.
Looking like a human is overrated.
Barbie doesn't even do it.
- I saw myself in my body proportions
in all the hair and makeup.
I'm curious to see how that
translates into Barbie proportions.
- I've only ever held a Barbie,
but I've never turned into that held Barbie.
- I am prepared to laugh.
- Okay, I'm ready to see myself as Black Barbie.
- Oh, the photos are here?
- Such drama.
(laughs)
- What in the world?
- Can I touch it?
- Everything is so tiny.
- I don't look that different from my normal self.
Like my body looks different, but that's still my face.
- The proportions of my face the same.
Body is completely different.
What a long neck.
- What happened to my neck?
- Can a neck hold up that much head?
- Now the waist has been tucked.
Did you have to extend the breasts at all?
A little bit.
- The funnel shape is there.
The hips jut out like a bell.
This is like the mom that makes the best potato salad.
- These are the size of my hamster's hands.
- I already have really small feet,
I wear like a five and half.
This is like a size two.
- Can you get a little close up on this, please.
- She looked normal to me growing up.
I didn't think that her neck was extremely
long for her body.
Or I didn't think her hands or feet
were too tiny for her body.
It's like actually pretty jarring.
- Barbie has tried to incorporate more diverse
body types into it's repertoire of Barbies.
But I think as long as they keep the original Barbie,
people are still gonna look at the other Barbies
as not the optimal Barbie.
- When I was walking in here,
I was like what if I'm going to see myself
as a Barbie and think I look better as a Barbie.
I do not look like an actual person.
So why is it that I feel like Barbies are pretty
and look like people and something
people aspire to look like.
- I think it's really cool how
the image of women has changed throughout time.
This being the first black Barbie,
of course she had to be glamorous.
But this also isn't the only representation
of women and their style and how they carry themselves.
I think I'm just as much of a woman as 1980 Black Barbie.
- I will say this has been super fun.
I love how much hair I have here.
I love this outfit, I love her styling.
I'd wear this outfit today, no problem.
- Getting Photoshopped into our favorite Barbies.
- Lady Tested.
- Lady all dolled up.
- Lady long hair don't care.
- Thanks, Black Barbie.
You're iconic.
And now so am I.
(upbeat music)