I bet you didn’t know there was a national day for everyone’s favorite doll !On March 9th there is a national day just for Barbie. Barbie Day was made to celebrate when Barbie made her first appearance to the public on March 9th, 1959 at a toy fair in New York—making March 9th Barbie or Barbra Millicent Roberts’s birthday.

The first Barbie toy, 11 inches tall with long blonde hair, was displayed. Barbie’s idea of a “perfect” girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a perfect body has come a long way. Today, we celebrate all sizes, colors, and nationalities.  Some might say that Barbie’s typical looks hurt young girl’s self-esteem. In our world today, we can see that there is more diversity in Barbie, however, it still has a lot of work to do in this category. Barbie in her beginning years wasn’t very inclusive. The first black barbie doll was released in 1980. That is about 20 years after Barbie’s debut! But on May 12th of 2022, the first trans barbie doll that is inspired by actress Laverne Cox came out. This really shows us the growth in the Barbie doll franchise. 

Barbie has also been an inspiration for fashion, and her many talents, careers, and achievements. In total 40 different Barbie movies have been made. Barbie is mainly shown as a princess in her films but she is also a fashion designer, a pop star, a spy, and a superhero, these are only some of the careers in the movie. In Barbie’s show, she does all of those things together.