#Diwali barbie

[barbielore]

Please note that I am not Hindu nor from any culture that celebrates Diwali. If I say something culturally insensitive in this post please feel free to bring this to my attention.

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, and a cultural celebration for Hindu, Sikh and Jain diaspora. According to my admittedly very limited knowledge, it is a five day festival, with the midpoint of the festival taking place in 2024 from the night of October 31st to the evening of November 1st.

In 2024, Mattel made the decision to release a Barbie in celebration. This was described as "for the first time ever" and the "first Diwali designer collab", which seems to imply without saying outright that they intend to create these annually as they do with the Dia de Muertos Barbies and Holiday Barbies.

This Barbie was designed by Anita Dongre and Edna Vogel-Amezcua. Anita Dongre is a fashion designer, who founded the Indian fashion label House of Anita Dongre in 1995. In 2017 she opened her first international store in Manhattan; and she has dressed such celebrities as Beyonce, the Jonas Brothers, and the Duchess of Cambridge. She is also a vegan activist.

Edna Vogel-Amezcua, on the other hand, is much harder to find any information about; all I can find is that she is credited as a co-designer on this doll.

Although this is the first designer collaboration for Diwali, this is not the first Barbie that has been themed around Diwali. As part of the Dolls of the World: Festivals of the World collection, Mattel released a Diwali Barbie in 2006.

[luckshmii]

the new indian diwali barbie doll! 🎀

designed by anita dongre, her barbie wears a moonlight blue lengha with intricate dahlia, jasmine + lotus motif designs. 🪷

while pink is obviously iconic for barbie. anita wanted to bring something more meaningful to this collaboration, so the deep and rich hues of blue were the most natural choice. anita also stated that this barbie has a grace and elegance that all generations would appreciate. she is a timeless beauty that transcends age! 🪄

whilst sketching the personality for her barbie, anita designed the doll with the modern indian woman in mind - someone who is confident and proud of her indian roots, the young india. this barbie is a huge symbol of empowerment for brown girls across the world!

barbie reflects the stories that young girls see in the world around them, and this doll is a perfect representation of that. with her diwali inspired essence, this barbie encourages people everywhere to celebrate the beautiful heritage of indian fashion + culture! 🇮🇳

diwali is a festival that symbolises light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. it brings joy, hope and cheer to the community, so this doll is really special!

every young south asian girl across the world is now able to celebrate their culture + beauty with this barbie! 🪔

via vogue india.

[dollshobby]

Barbie Diwali 2024: A Celebration of Tradition and Elegance with Anita Dongre

This year, Mattel is celebrating the Festival of Lights with Diwali 2024 Barbie doll dressed in a stunning ensemble designed by renowned Indian couturier Anita Dongre.

The doll will be on sale on October 7, 2024, primarily on Amazon India, and later in other online stores and marketplaces around the world.

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

The Juggernaut

Barbie’s new Diwali doll has sold out in less than four days.

The $40 doll by Indian fashion designer Anita Dongre came out October 4. Though Barbie has released “Indian” dolls before, this is its first Diwali Barbie.

“In a continued commitment to promoting celebrations of heritage, Barbie is unveiling its first Barbie Diwali doll,” Mattel wrote in a news release. “The Barbie Diwali doll celebrates India’s cultural richness with a worldwide audience.”

Diwali Barbie sports a dark blue Anita Dongre lehenga, golden bangles and jhumka, high heels, and a ponytail. She has no backstory.

Dongre told USA Today that designing the look took over a year. She first envisioned the doll having several outfits. “I wanted to have an entire collection,” she told USA Today. “Should it be a lehenga? Should it be a sari? Should it be a sharara? There’s so much one can do. Indian fashion is just so versatile.”

“This Moonlight Bloom look features a choli top, floral koti vest, and lehenga skirt lush with dahlias, jasmine, and Indian lotus, representing strength and beauty,” Mattel’s site reads. Though note: “The doll comes with a stand…Doll cannot stand alone.”

Last year, American Girl also got in on the Indian American market, America’s fastest-growing and richest demographic. It launched Kavi, a doll who loves Broadway, has a Western and Indian wardrobe, and celebrates Diwali and Holi.

Despite its 2023 blockbuster movie, #Barbie has long faced flak for shaping perceptions of what women should look like.

In 1996, Mattel created its first melanated doll for Indians. She had the same physique as white Barbie and wore a bindi. Yet, the box labeled her pink sari as a two-piece outfit with an optional shawl and noted that Indians don’t use utensils to eat. As Sadaf Ahsan wrote for The Juggernaut: “If you aren’t blonde and blue-eyed, life in plastic isn’t fantastic.”

[luminouslumity]

[kiss-me-with-the-stars]

I think the worst thing Barbie has done was not make this Barbie available to order online

[sunilkumarsln]

[beganavagabond007]

Diwali Barbie 2024

[barbielore]

I’m genuinely surprised to know that there are no officially released Mattel products for Barbie that reference Jewish religious or cultural customs. I genuinely would have thought that there would be at least one by now - at least as a part of a collectors series, if nothing else.

This comes as a particular surprise as the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, and Barbie’s namesake, Ruth’s daughter Barbara, were Jewish women. In fact, when Saudi Arabia commented on the ban on the sale of Barbie dolls, one of the reasons given for this is that Barbie was Jewish.

Most of the mass market Barbies produced around the December season tend to be marketed as secular “Holiday” Barbies rather than naming Christmas or any other religious celebration.

I think it’s fair to say a lot of these dolls appear Christmas-adjacent, using iconography associated with e.g. Santa, candy canes and Christmas trees.

And there are some that explicitly refer to Christmas or Easter, though typically with a lean to the less religious aspects of the holiday, like gift giving and egg collecting.

And there are Barbies that have been released themed around religious and/or cultural celebrations from around the world - just to name a few, there are Barbies to celebrate Kwanzaa, Diwali, and Dia de los Muertos.

So personally, I think Barbie is overdue for a Jewish culture Barbie - what do you think?

[dassanjays-blog]

On this Diwali, know about that powerful "Aadiram" God, only by worshiping whom we can be freed from the prison of Kaal Brahma.

To know Hindu Saheban! Sant Rampal Ji Ma did not understand the book Geeta, Vedas and Puranas.

#Diwali

[hiero-green]

Put in an offer on a Diwali Barbie last night that I've had my eye on for a year and the seller hasn't been online in 5 days.... Seller please respond....... Where are you in my hour of need......

[etherealher70607060]

It's Diwali + Samhain and I tried to look soft with a hint of spooks but I ended up looking like if Raquel (from Barbie) was real and was a witch lmao