Fashion Play Barbie 1983

 Remember my Fashion Play Barbie 1988 and the transaction that took 6 weeks to conclude? The doll below finally ended it. The seller first sent my FP88 to the wrong address and with a criminal delay too, so she promised to give me a doll for free for the inconvenience, but she posted the wrong one. This is the Barbie I had selected and to finally get her, I had to pay for her. Well, nothing in life ever comes for free, does it. I don’t think the seller’s actions were deliberate but they were certainly effective, because I planned to purchase just one doll, I ended up with three instead. However, to be fair I have to admit I did barter and the seller accepted my first offer, and a pretty low too.

Fashion Play are such fascinating dolls but they’re rather obscure and it’s hard to find out anything about them. The US sites, blogs and youtube channels are usually very helpful and informative, but not in this case. Fashion Play were foreign editions and so my usual sources are silent on this occasion. I was determined to investigate the matter thoroughly, but instead of giving you hard facts, all I have to offer are scraps of information and my own speculations. But if you happen to know anything on the topic, please share in the comments.

I love FP for their style and beauty, I remember my friends had them when we were little and all this combined makes them so attractive to me. I would be glad to own most of the dolls from the series that started in 1983 and was concluded in 1991. I guess that what Mattel had in mind was conquering Europe with the help of a horde of gorgeous blue-eyed, long-legged, long-haired blondes. The entire series is amazing, but of course, I like some dolls more than others. These would be the early Fashion Play Barbies and they are slightly problematic in terms of their identification for several reasons. 

I was sure that Mattel produced 4 dolls per year up until 1988 when they reduced the number to 2 models but my research showed otherwise. Mattel started off with an intense production schedule and made as many as 13 FP Barbies in 1983 when they released the first batch – 5 dolls. They further released 4 dolls in 1984 and in 1985 (unconfirmed). What is striking though is that all those 13 dolls shared the same box date 1983 as well as their serial number #7193. This I found out by searching for boxed 1983 Fashion Play Barbies on ebay and checking the data on the pictures of their boxes. Now each of these 13 dolls had a different outfit and although they were all produced in the Philippines, there were 3 types of face paint – high-color, low-color and Malibu. There seems to be no correlation between facial screening and outfits. I’ve seen different dolls wearing the same sets of clothes.

The year 1986 brought 4 more FP Barbies. Those bear a striking resemblance to the high-color 1983 FP but there are some differences. This was a discovery by one of my fellow collectors from Poland – Luci_Fair. On her blog she writes that the 1986 FP have darker eyebrows, the blue of their eyes and make-up is a completely different shade (1986 is more of a turquoise color), they seem to have a deeper tan and of course, their toes are less defined. While conducting my research I also found out there was yet another facial screening variant for the 1983 FP. Those dolls look nothing like the others and were produced in France. There were as many as 6 of them. The below picture was borrowed from an online auction, but another collector who specializes at FP also mentions them on her blog right here. She also confirms the first 5 regular FP dolls had the same serial number.

 

the source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-RARE-FOREIGN-FASHION-PLAY-BARBIE-Made-in-France-264-NRFB-Mode-Fantaisie-/153920313395 

 

 

the source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-RARE-FOREIGN-FASHION-PLAY-BARBIE-Made-in-France-264-NRFB-Mode-Fantaisie-/153920313395

The later FP dolls, from 1987 on are much easier to identify because Mattel diversified not only their outfits but also hairdos and face paint. But the early Barbies are very much alike, I personally think they’re the most beautiful and of the best quality. Now, I’m a completionist and I’d rather own a set – a doll and her outfit but in this case it’s virtually impossible to make a match so I selected a Fashion Play / Fashion Fun dress that I liked the best. I like the color and the cut as well as the fact that it “ages” beautifully because there’s no Velcro. I don’t have the right shoes, the white open-toe heels but these are a pretty good match, I think.

As soon as the lady confirmed I’d get FP 1983 for free, I purchased the lavender dress from another seller.  It was delivered in a blink of an eye and at some point I almost lost hope I’d ever get the doll for the dress. But since then I’ve come across as many as four 1983 FP Barbie dolls and all beautiful and at a great price. Ironic, isn’t it. For two years I had had no luck, and now that I already own one, four more appear. It makes me laugh to think of it.

 

Fun-to-Dress Barbie 1987

 The story behind Fun-to-Dress Barbie 1987 is simple and uncomplicated pretty much like the doll herself which I never meant to purchase and add to my collection although she’s a very well- known Barbie in Europe and my country especially and many collectors speak of her fondly. Of course I knew her and I thought she was pretty enough but somehow she didn’t seem like a material for my collection. Neither would she blind you with the neons of the 90s nor would she throw you to your knees with the glamor and elegance of the 80s. She’s not the over-the-top, slightly tacky, Happy Holiday type of doll either. It wasn’t my intention to get the doll, she arrived by mistake as a Fashion Play ’88 Barbie’s companion you might have read in the previous post. She was that ‘doll-free-of-charge-for-the-inconvenience-and-criminal-delay’. I expected a completely different ‘doll-for-free-and so on’ but the seller made a mistake and sent me this one instead. I had every intention of sending her on her way back but I took a closer look at her and realized she was a very pretty doll. I offered to buy her (I was still hoping to get the right doll for free) and the lady took my first offer, so she stayed.

Fun-to-Dress 1987 is a starter Barbie. She came packaged in a slim pink box with nothing but her underwear on. As far as I know, not even a brush was included and neither were any shoes. The whole idea behind Fun-to-Dress was that you get the doll and you buy some fashions for her. That’s it. Fun-to-Dress was produced in two countries and came in three variants. One has a very gentle, subtle face paint and saran hair and is of the Philippine make. The other two were manufactured in China, their face paint is much more distinct and their features prominent and they came either with saran or kanekalon hair. Mine is a China make with saran hair and she happens to be my favorite version. The hair was a decisive factor, if she had had kanekalon rooted, she would have gone back to her previous owner. There was also an ethnic variant – an AA Fun-to-Dress, absolutely stunning, but she was never sold in my country.

 

the source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fun-to-Dress-Barbie-1987-Mattel-4558-New-in-Box-/173367682860

 

 

the source: https://shopee.ph 

 

 

the source: https://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/mattel-1987-fun-to-dress-aa-african-american-nrfb-i7530701662.html

In 1988 and 1989 the line was continued and the whole concept remained the same. The dolls were still pretty, blonde or AA and in 1989 also Hispanic and they wore pink lingerie. They still had no shoes, no accessories, no additional outfits. They still had straight arms without the movement to the sides but they were absolutely lovely. After 1989 the line was apparently dropped because customers expected a little more which they got in 1992 when the series was reintroduced. This time the dolls weren’t so pretty anymore and someone at Mattel’s decided a towel was slightly more decent than lingerie. Strange. There were many variants of this doll available because she was produced in China (kanekalon) and in Malaysia (saran) and there were 2 ethnic dolls (AA and Hispanic). There were also two versions of the towel itself – blue or pink and if this was a little too little, you could also purchase Barbie as a Fashion Gift Set with two additional outfits and shoes. It appears that only the blonde one was available in the pink towel or as a gift set.

 

the source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/diff-fun-dress-barbie-dolls-1988-nrfb-1912346323 

 

 

the source: https://picclick.com/Vintage-Doll-Lot-Barbie-FUN-TO-DRESS-Gift-292491251464.html

That will suffice for a Barbie encyclopedia excerpt, now to the doll herself. She arrived in a state of neglect and partial undress. She was wearing an ugly rag that once probably belonged to a clone doll. Now it was literally falling apart and as soon as I paid for her, the rag went where it belonged – to the trash. Barbie’s hair wasn’t damaged though it was a little thin. Whoever owned her as a child must have valued the therapeutic properties of brushing Barbie’s hair and she lost some of it in the process of relieving her owner’s stress however, it remained soft, silky and shiny and the color is simply lovely. Barbie’s face paint is very unique and she’s easy to identify. The pale, peachy lipstick and lavender, almost white eyeshadow make her instantly recognizable. The Philippine variant may be prettier, but it’s definitely more common looking.

Unfortunately, my Barbie’s lost her stock outfit – the simple white and pink underwear. I’m a completionist and I’m currently looking for it but in the meantime I dressed her in one of my favorite fashion packs and decided it was a good opportunity to extend my Barbie wardrobe a little bit. If any Barbie was created to change clothes, it was Fun-to-Dress, right? In the photo below, Barbie’s wearing a Weekend Collection Fashion that is dear to me. When I was 5, my Mom took me out shopping for my very first Barbie. At that time in my country, a Barbie doll was a luxury product, very expensive and available only at a very special store called Pewex. There was at least one Pewex in every major city in Poland. There was also one near to where I lived. After I chose my Barbie from a group of 5 or 6 dolls available at that time, my Mom surprised me with another gift – I could select one furniture playset. There were 2 to choose from and I picked up a Sweet Roses Roll-top desk with bookcase. The Barbie that was featured on the box was wearing that same fashion pack! It’s sooooooo 80s!

I got two fashion packs for my Fun-to-Dress that I had had my eye on for quite some time. The first one is very basic, but I love the colors of it. It’s the 1989 Fashion Finds that consists of a pair of purple shorts and a multicolor, striped top. There are no shoes included, which is a shame, but the colors are so vibrant they make up for the obvious deficiency in the shoe department. I like the entire Fashion Finds series that you can see on the back of the packaging. You can mix and match them easily and they seem to have been designed for it.

The other fashion pack has many more pieces and it’s the 1993 Happening Hair. The idea behind the series, that consists of 4 sets, is that you play with the outfit AND the hair. The outfit is so happy and colorful as well as soft and pastel I just had to have it. It consists of a pair of shorts, a striped top and a vest. There’s a pair of sea foam green tennis shoes too. The hair accessories include a hair pick, two bows, a hair accessory I have difficulty defining (looks like a shoe lace shaped like a spring, Totally Hair Barbie had one too) and a packet of long expired hair gel.

Shopping for clothes for Barbie is every bit as much fun as it is a torture! The seller I got these fashion packs from had a great number of lovely sets. It was hard to make my mind up so I hope to go back to her store anytime soon. I’m also planning to get more fashions rather than dolls because I ran out of stock of my doll stands and my “sitting shelf” is full. Kaiser stands have become hard to get in my country, I’ve ordered a dozen Chinese ones and well see what they’re good for, so Fun-to-Dress should appear again sporting some new clothes and hopefully, her own stock as well!

Fashion Play Barbie 1988

 I guess you have no idea who this lovely lady is but she’s well known in Europe and many Barbie collectors from Poland feel very nostalgic about her. She’s the 1988 Fashion Play Barbie also known as the “Pink Dress”. Fashion Play line was produced between 1983-1991 and it has nothing in common with the US series under the same name available in stores in the 90s. The dolls were fairly basic but incredibly graceful and they were considered as budget Barbies. Back in 1988 Mattel produced two dolls belonging to the series, one was dressed in pink, the other in blue. They look great together, but I was strangely drawn to the pink one. She quickly became a very special doll for me and I had to get her asap. What is even stranger is the fact that I have no idea why she is so special to me!

The Pink Dress feels very familiar, but I didn’t own her growing up and neither did any of my friends or cousins. Yet when I saw her picture for the first time as an adult I thought to myself “I know her!” Where did I meet her? It was as if I was seeing the face of a good old friend. I was forcing my brain for scraps of memories of the doll to no avail. Now, only one possible scenario comes to my mind, namely, I must have seen her in that store where my Mom bought me my first Barbie. Both dolls were produced in the same year so they might have hit the stores together. Or maybe FP’88 simply reminds me of my SuperStar 1988? There’s some similarities between both dolls – their dresses are the same soft pink, their make-up and their hair look much alike (the saran variants). In fact, FP’88 seems to be a more basic, less extravagant version of the SuperStar ’88.

Whatever may be the reason, the doll climbed to the top of my wish list and I knew no rest until I tracked her down. This leads to a transaction that cost me a lot of stress and took almost a month and a half! A certain lady put out some dolls for sale through a popular portal. I contacted her and bought one, but since it was weekend and I wasn’t busy I was thinking about some other doll the lady had, or should I say, her dress. The dress belonged to FP’88 and I thought, perhaps if she has the dress, maybe there’s the doll who owns it too? There was, I swapped the doll I bought for FP’88 and … that’s where the problems began. First there was a significant delay, then apparently the doll was sent to the wrong address, then another delay. The lady offered a doll for free to make up for the inconvenience and we decided together which doll it should be. She sent them to the right address this time, but there were more mistakes to be discovered upon their arrival. The envelope contained my FP’88 without her dress which was a part of the deal and the “doll-for-free” wasn’t the one I asked for. The lady promised she’d send the right doll and the dress asap … but she broke her leg (come on!). I almost lost hope I’d ever get the doll and the dress that I actually had paid for, but then she contacted me and I offered I’d pay for the “doll-for-free” because nothing ever comes for free. When I did, she posted them both … after a due delay of course. What made the whole situation even worse was the fact that the lady wasn’t very responsive. I’d send her a query and then she’d reply three days later, or never.

One thing I have to admit though. The lady might have irritated me many a time, but she wasn’t sort of a person to take your money and then show you the middle finger. She didn’t try to cheat me and she was fully aware I paid her every time promptly and it was her turn to do her part of the deal. That leg thing I don’t believe, I’ve heard such stories already and neither do I think she is a collector like she said she was. A collector doesn’t keep her dolls in the state you’re about to see, and knows a little more about dolls in general. This lady was clearly convinced all dolls with straight arms were Fashion Play, which obviously isn’t the case. But she remained calm and polite and tolerated my increasing impatience and repeated questions and nagging with much kindness, I reciprocated with equal tolerance of her unreliability, constant delays, lack of replies and silly excuses. She also had a number of interesting dolls for a good price and I would have become one of her regular clients had this transaction gone smoother. 

Anyway, the doll’s here and so is her dress. The dress looked fine to begin with, but as to the doll, well she needed a lot of help. When it turned out the lady did have the FP’88 in her possession she assured me the doll was in perfect condition but sadly had no pictures of her at that moment. After 10 days of waiting I finally saw the doll I was about to purchase and it turned out that the term “perfect condition” leaves much room for interpretation and that we obviously don’t define it the same way. Barbie’s hair was awful! Awful, heavily played with kanekalon! It meant a great challenge to my restoration abilities if not a full re-root. But I really, really wanted that doll and I’d been searching for her these past two years and I only managed to find 2 dolls except for this poor thing – one was still boxed, she had kanekalon hair and was insanely expensive for a “budget” Barbie and if she had saran hair, maybe I’d save up for her and got her evenutally. The other was a corpse, heavily overpriced, naked corpse that I wasn’t willing to resuscitate. Not at that price. This one was potentially problematic, but she was affordable and she had her dress in a great condition. Sold! That’s what she looked like when she arrived.

I scrubbed her with dish soap and baking soda and then I put her hair in fabric softener. I find that fabric softener works miracles on kanekalon hair. I usually let the hair soak for at least 24 hours. After that time I wash the hair and there’s no point doing that before, because the hair needs to soften a bit for the dirt to be removed easily. It really makes a whole lot of difference but it requires much fabric softener – a glass at least plus half the amount of warm water. I washed and conditioned the hair and it finally surrendered to the force of gravity that it previously defied with all its might! It was also a nicer color, not so dull and gray as before. But it was still far from perfect so I boil-washed it and I was much more nonchalant doing that than I normally am. I dipped it in almost bubbling boiling water and I combed it with a fine tooth comb still hot and dripping. I repeated that process about 10 times until the hair became soft and sleek. Then I poured a generous amount of diluted gel for more shine, worked a little bit on the part line and when the hair dried it became silky and shiny and very, very straight. I tried curling it twice but it was a disaster so I just left it like that.

Barbie had to wait for her stock dress for over 3 weeks but it was worth it. Simple as it may be, it’s really pretty and since it has no Velcro whatsoever, it’s still in a great shape. I love the soft, baby pink and the overall design of the dress. It’s made of the most Barbie-ish fabric there can be – lurex. The peppelum is two layers of tule the top one adorned with a silvery thread that’s a nice touch and makes it a tiny bit more elegant. My Barbie should also have some classic 90s pumps – baby pink with pearly sheen but they’re long lost. I’m a completionist and I hope to find those someday in the future.

I’m so glad Fashion Play ’88 finally took her rightful place in my cabinet. I wasn’t sure this would happen and I almost lost hope I’d get her dress but they’re here. The dress, as you can see, is identical to Special Expressions Barbie’s save for the color. You might say I got both 1988 Fashion Play Barbies because Special Expression is a redressed “blue” Fashion Play 1988. Pink FP’88 is so pretty I would be very glad to have a duplicate of her with saran hair but she’s even harder to get than the kanekalon one so it’s a fat chance.