Teen Fun Workout Skipper 1987

One of my plans for 2020 was to complete the Teen Fun Skipper series and this I managed to do this month because I was only missing Workout Skipper. Thus I finally own all of the 1987 Skipper dolls. I’m so happy!

I’d been putting the purchase off although I’d seen some second-hand Workout Skippers available and at a good price. The problem was I wanted the saran variant and with the outfit in a good shape. Unfortunately, Skipper’s body suit is made of the kind of fabric that rubs off revealing the ugly grey layer underneath. Sometimes, even getting a brand new doll doesn’t guarantee the perfect condition of the body suit so you might open the box and be disappointed by what you just bought. Mine is fine though

I like the color combination of the box. Skipper looks so lovely in her yellow outfit against the purple background, it was almost a shame to unbox her, but that wouldn’t be me. I had to take her out of her box. There was some “paper work” waiting for me, namely two catalogues, cardboard cutouts, some stickers, the instruction manual as well as an invitation to join Barbie Club. The manual came in handy because it explained what the green accessories next to the jump rope were. Those are leg weights. The set also came with a pair of dumbbells, a jump rope, a mat and a brush.

Skipper came with a lovely outfit that just shouts the 80s. There’s a pair of yellow leggings, a short top, a gold body suit, wristbands, a headband and a pair of leg warmers. There are two versions of the top, it’s yellow and white with either black or gold stripes. Skipper’s also wearing a pair of light yellow tennis shoes. I love how the outfit comes with multiple and separate pieces and the body suit has a plastic snap.

Skipper herself is just adorable. She has a head full of tight curls in a very warm shade of honey blonde. The hair is a little flat, crushed by the box, but that’s to be expected after three decades in a box. She reminds me of Olivia Newton-John in Grease.  All of the Teen Fun Skippers have the identical facial screening and only the colors differ. Workout Skipper has a strange combination of foam green and a bit of yellow in her eyes with just a touch of purple eye shadow, but it looks really well.

All in all, I find Teen Fun Skipper series very unique in terms of the facial screening, they’re easy to identify. As far as, I know all the 1987 Skipper dolls, including the Teen Sweetheart Skipper, come with saran or kanekalon hair. I can’t be sure if that’s true for the Cheerleader because I’ve been misled by online pictures many times already, but I’m certain as far as the other three are concerned. It was especially hard to get the saran variant of the Teen Sweetheart. Furthermore, all four share the same problem – spotty vinyl of their legs. That’s very common for the early Skippers and mine are an example of that phenomenon, but that’s something I knew at the time of purchase, so I won’t despair. So here’s all of the Skippers produced in 1987, don’t they look adorable?

Fashion Avenue Lingerie

I’ve gone nuts with Barbie lingerie of late, but is it my fault that great deals just poped up one after another? And could I just let them pass? I couldn’t, or I’d certainly regret that. On one of the facebook groups I belong to, one person announced he’d be selling a large collection of Fashion Avenue sets and at a very good price. I would’ve taken them all, but I’ve got to eat. So here are two that I purchased.

The first set is the Fashion Avenue Lingerie #14292 from 1996 and it’s brand new. The lovely box was designed to look like a shop window and it consisted of two sets of clothes. Peaches’n Cream is wearing a lavender nightdress trimmed with black lace. The nightdress has a slit at the bottom on one side and it looks very much “grown-up” and authentic.

Magic Moves is presenting a blush pink bra and panties also with identical trimming as the nightdress. It was such a struggle to put the panties on but Barbie needed some exercise anyway. Her mechanism is a little faulty and if I don’t switch it on and off and put her arms up and down every once in a while, it just refuses to work. So she made some ominous noises and … she’s fine again. And you would have thought that you ought to go gentle with such an old doll.

Mattel would add some accessories to their lingerie sets like a brush, a comb and a pair of shoes. This one contains some black simple pumps but they seem too heavy for the pastels so the models are wearing some shoes from my other fashion packs. I have no idea where the lavender heels came from, but they’re so lovely with the pearly finish. The set also came with a catalogue.

The set below came second-handed but still in a pretty good condition. The Fashion Avenue Lingerie #14290 from 1995 consisted of a body suit, a pair of stockings, a purse, a comb and a pair of open-toe heels. Mine is incomplete, but the most important parts are still there, though the stockings have some tiny holes. The set was very inexpensive and I’d wanted to have it for a long time, so I’m very happy with it.

Of course I had to put out my girls for a group photo but I forgot I also had the other elements of the white Fancy Frills as well as some Steffi Love underwear, but oh well. I love Fashion Avenue, I feel they’re really good quality compared to what we get nowadays. There’s still one set that I’d love to have and that is Fashion Avenue Lingerie #18093 from 1997 but it’s pretty expensive so unless I come across some really good deal, I’ll have to do without it. It’s pretty though, don’t you think?

The source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/barbie-fashion-avenue-lingerie-peach-501523956

Woolworth Special Limited Edition Special Expressions Barbie 1989 or an "almost" Fashion Play Barbie

So this doll is what I would call an „almost” Fashion Play Barbie and I know that „almost” makes a huge difference, but while I can’t have what I want, I’m content with what I found on one of the Polish Facebook groups. The lady here is brand new, or as new as she can be given the fact that she was produced these 30-ish years ago. She’s never been played with though and her name is the Woolworth Special Limited Edition Special Expressions Barbie 1989. Ufff, that’s one long name and at least no-one will deny she’s very special.

I do think that our European Fashion Play Barbie dolls must have been a great and wasted potential. They, technically speaking, were never released in the US and are completely unknown there, which is a shame because the dolls were great, their outfits were amazing and I assume they would be pretty inexpensive there. Mattel did use them in some way or another though. For one, their outfits were released as part of the Fashion Fun series that offered the exact same clothes FP would wear as well as their color variants. So below you can see the pink version of the dress that belonged to Fashion Play Barbie 1986 both color dresses had the same product number assigned which is #2091 and they were produced in 1985. Another example would be the purple variant of my Fashion Play Party Cruise dress #2088 from 1984. Now if the dates are correct, the dresses predate the dolls. Interesting.

 the source: https://www.pinterest.at/pin/343258802842764320/

 

the source: https://www.lulu-berlu.com/barbie-fashion-fun-mattel-1984-ref2088-a14436-en.html

 

I don’t know about you, but I think that Mattel sometimes struggled when making up the names for the basic Barbie dolls. I mean, how many times and in how many ways can you use the words like pink, fabulous, enchanting, sensation, ect. After all, the name “Fashion Play” was pretty catchy, very general and at hand, why not use it? So Mattel did just that and that’s how the American line of Fashion Play dolls came to be. A “line” was probably too much to say because there were actually only two models produced – in 1990 and in 1991. Those were simple but lovely dolls in slim boxes with straight PTR arms and the only difference between them and the European Fashion Play is that each model came with 3 ethnic variants – white Caucasian/Superstar, African American/ Christie 1987 and Hispanic/ Steffie. The European FP had always the Superstar face.

The source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/barbie-doll-fashion-play-mattel-3860-2001289735

So Mattel used the name and the clothes of the European Fashion Play Barbies. What about the dolls themselves? They came in handy whenever Mattel would get a commission to produce some exclusives. Of course, these would be mostly some basic and inexpensive dolls and FP would do great here. Stores like Walmart or Toys’r Us would put them out at the right place and at the right time of the year. They would stack them in a pile 6 feet tall for better visibility and offer dolls that other stores wouldn’t. And everyone would be happy. Of course, certain changes had to be applied, like repainting, redressing, renaming. One of such dolls would be the Party Pink Barbie 1989 made for Winn-Dixie. The doll’s wearing the 1989 Fashion Play Barbie dress and her face is familiar too but I can’t put my finger on it. Another, and even a better example would be the Pink Sensation Barbie 1990, she’s special and limited but I don’t know for whom. Anyway, the first thing I noticed was that she was wearing the purple Fashion Play 1990 Barbie’s dress, the cut is pretty unique. But upon a closer look I noticed that her hair and face fit too. What Mattel did was they switched purple for pink and that’s how Pink Sensation Barbie came to be.

 The source: https://pl.pinterest.com/jaredtylerc/barbie/

 The source: https://www.ebay.com/p/1400075901

 

Finally, we’re moving closer to my doll. Special Expressions Barbie line was produced for Woolworth and the first dolls left the factories in 1989. That’s my lady here. SE Barbies were continued up to 1993 (I believe) and they were available as AA and / or Hispanic dolls as well and the molds that were applied were Superstar, Christie, Steffie and Teresa. SE have much in common with the European Fashion Play Barbies. Those dolls are hardly popular with one exception and that is the Hispanic 1992 girl. She’s got the Steffie face for which collectors worldwide like her. Now doesn’t she look somewhat familiar? That’s right, she has the same eyes as Totally Hair Whitney but in my opinion she’s much prettier. Her hair is lovely and it’s saran!

 1989- Fashion Play 1988 the blue doll, the pink dress ( in white ), Caucasian and AA

The source: https://picclick.com/Vintage-1989-SPECIAL-EXPRESSIONS-BARBIE-4842-LTD-NRFB-300468494327.html

1990- FP 1990 - the dress of the pink one, the face of the purple one1989, Caucasian and AA

The source: https://www.ebay.com/p/1501530408

1991- Caucasian and AA

The source: https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Special-Expressions-Woolworth/dp/B003IFJHWG

1992 – Caucasian, AA and Hispanic/Steffie (the eyes of Totally Hair Whitney)

The source:https://picclick.com/Special-Expressions-Barbie-1992-Woolworth-Limited-Edition-RARE-232908679884.html

1992 – wearing  Barbie Style 1992 dress, Caucasian, AA and Hispanic/Teresa

The source: https://www.ebay.com/p/1639481219

Special Expressions 1993 has turned out to be somewhat problematic and I’m not even sure she exists. I’ve only seen her here https://www.flickr.com/photos/98328300@N08/27840868831 and I haven’t found her pictures still in box. She looks like the doll from 1992 wearing the multicolor dress but her earrings don’t fit in the picture. SE wouldn’t come with any earrings. Tricky, very tricky.

So I had no idea my Special Expressions doll even existed until I read about her on one of the Polish Barbie blogs. Luci_Fair is a great fan of Fashion Play Barbies and she knows a great deal about them. She was the one who pointed out that SE was a combination of the two 1988 FP Barbie dolls. She’s the “blue” one wearing the “pink” one’s dress but in white. Complicated, I know. She’s a good substitute of the two dolls I crave for and I’m still looking for them. The only problem is that whenever they appear on eBay, they cost much more than I’m willing to pay and they’re usually the kanekalon variants and I just want saran and nothing else would do. If I happen to find them somewhere in my own country, their condition is usually very, very poor. I already rescued one poor thing here. If you’d like to see the doll’s I’m talking about, check out the blog. It’s in Polish but I guess you can translate it. It’s definitely worth it.

As to my doll, she came with a box, because the box was too damaged for her to stay IN the box. Still, I cannot throw away Barbie boxes even if they look more like trash. Call me silly. The doll, however, was dusty but otherwise intact. She cleaned up beautifully but I wish she had her stock shoes – the lovely, white pumps with bows on them. My girl is wearing a replacement pair with pearly finish. There should be a brush too, but I really can’t complain, the doll’s great and I paid pennies for her. She’s lovely and if anything, she made me crave for more FP even stronger.