Meet Bild Lilli. The inspiration for Barbie, Lilli was a German doll based on a popular comic strip about a depression-era woman about town in search of the wealthiest suitor. Or y’know…a gold digger. With advertising tag lines like ”Whether more or less naked, Lilli is always discreet” and a line of negliges and other goodies to go with her, Lilli was marketed towards adult men. Long before she graced children’s birthday celebrations, the doll was a common bachelor party gift. It wasn’t until Barbie Doll creator Ruth Handler spotted a Lilli doll on a trip abroad that she brought a few home with the idea that her daughter Barbara (and other girls her age) might like to play with a doll modeled after a mature female body as a means for “practicing for adulthood”.
That’s always how I’ve seen Barbie too — to this day she’s notably one of the only dolls marketed to young girls and modeled after adult women. My four year old doesn’t really want to pretend to be a grown-up yet, that’s still a really unsavory idea to her, so apart from the occasional run-in with Barbie at my Mother-In-Law’s house, my aversion to the doll hasn’t been a real issue yet. But we’ve had our moments with her — the Life in the Dream House show popping up on Netflix, or a birthday gift she spotted before I did and I had to wait for her to forget about before shuffling it in to the Good Will pile. (Do they all come with clear heels now? What is with the clear heels?!) And every time as my husband rolls his eyes and my mother-in-law groans, I can’t help but think that if this grown-up looking doll is to be my little girl’s means of practicing for adulthood, exactly what kind of adulthood is it that I want her to be practicing for?
I don’t particularly want to raise a “clothes hanger” as lead designer Kimberly Culmone referred to her current design. I don’t think I’m super interested in raising a Bild Lilli whose sole ambition in life was to land the wealthiest husband. And I’m definitely not aiming to raise a daughter who thinks being a grown up means distorting her body to fit a male fantasy that’s more than a half-century old to the point that she would fall over if she tried to stand up. (If we’re being literal. Which I obviously am.)
One Reply to “Meet Bild Lilli, Unabashed Gold Digger, Adult Novelty Toy, and The First Barbie!”