1980s

1981: MTV debuts and forever changes the music industry. In 1986, Barbie has her own band– Barbie and the Rockers (shown above)– and she rocks the ‘80s scene with big hair, big shoulder pads and all the other fashion faux pas we’d like to forget from the decade.

FASHION


Like everything in the '80s, the style of Barbie was, like, totally bold and so totally excessive. MTV sparked a new youth movement and the decade’s fads and fashions were broadcast around the globe.

Barbie & The Rockers took shoulder pads, scrunchies, big belts and leggings to a whole new level. Move over Madonna...neon never looked so good.

Shattering the “plastic ceiling”, Day to Night Barbie became a briefcase-carrying power executive-by-day and couture-inspired, ultra sophisticate by night, reflecting the popularity of nighttime soap operas like “Dynasty.”
 


BEAUTY


As supermodels like Kim Alexis, Carol Alt and Paulina Porizkova went from the runway to the highway on advertising billboards, Angel Face Barbie became the newest Barbie in 1983. She had a delicate face with large, round eyes, pale skin and long, sun streaked hair.

These pics are straight from the Mattel Archive!