Barbie

Ruth Handler, co-founder of toy company Mattel with her husband Elliot, watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most dolls marketed to children were designed to resemble infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to Elliot, who was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.

In 1956, during a trip to Switzerland with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler encountered a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a satirical comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild. The Lilli doll was first sold in West Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.

Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974, a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris at the Louvre held a Barbie exhibit in 2016. The exhibit featured 700 Barbie dolls over two floors as well as works by contemporary artists and documents (newspapers, photos, videos) that contextualize Barbie.

In 1986, the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. The painting sold at auction at Christie's, London for $1.1 million. In 2015, The Andy Warhol Foundation then teamed up with Mattel to create an Andy Warhol Barbie.