Dolly Dress Discussion: Best Fashion Friend Barbie dress

Let's talk about Barbie again.  Yeah I know I could be discussing and reviewing other things, but when I get an idea for a blog I don't like to let it slip away.  Anywho, 2015 has brought a new big Barbie to stores...or so I thought.  Turns out these aren't as new as I initially thought.  But anyway, this isn't the first time Mattel has done this; in 1976 there was the eighteen-inch Supersize Barbie, and the 1990's saw My Size Barbie, who was three feet tall and could wear child-sized clothes.  I thought My Size Barbie was ugly as sin, but that's beside the point.  Today I ventured over to Wal-Mart's toy section as I often do, and I saw the Best Fashion Friend dolls.  Here's what one of them looks like.

That's right, kiddies!  Barbie, Teresa, and Nikki are all now two feet tall, so tall that they had to be laid down in the shelves they were on.  Debbie Behan Garrett at Black Doll Collecting has an excellent photo of BFF Barbie next to an old My Size Barbie, and this page shows how BFF compares to a regular doll (it's in Czech, but the images are good).  As a little aside, Miss Debbie's post is from October of LAST YEAR.  I wonder why my part of the country is always the last to get new stuff?  

So this is old news.  Why do I bring this up, you ask?  Because Mattel has released extra outfits for their extra-large poppets, that's why!  Dexter, Missour's Wal-Mart had three, and there are others available elsewhere.  I bought the one that looked the most conservative, just in case the pieces were smaller than they looked.

BFF Barbie's shoes are molded on so these outfits don't come with extra shoes of their own.  This fashion contained three pieces.  It has a fuzzy, sparkly vest, a sleeveless blue top, and a salmon-colored leopard-print skirt.  The vest sheds like mad, the skirt already has threads hanging off the hem, and the top has holes in the front from where Mattel tacked it to its packaging.  I really hate those plastic tacks; they're the same kind that you find in your doll's head when you're trying to take her out of the package, and they're the purest of all evil.  

Anyway, I bought this with the intention of trying it on some of my dolls.  American Girls are too thick in the body, but Ana Ming and Crissy are slim enough.  Crissy went first and...I'm not really sure what to think!

Maybe shoes would've helped complete the look a bit.  Crissy's frame turned out to be too lean for this outfit.  The skirt fits fine, but the top is entirely too baggy.  I had to pull it back and tuck it into the skirt in order to make the front lie flat.  It's probably just as well that the outfit doesn't fit her; I think it's too adult for a pre-teen doll like Crissy.  Ana Ming has always projected a slight air of maturity, so let's see how she does.

I'm not in love with this look either.  As with Crissy, it makes Ana Ming look...well, a bit worldly.   On a positive note, the outfit fits Ana Ming way better than it does Crissy.  I still had to smooth out the front of the top, but not as much.  The skirt's pinkish-orange tones match Ana Ming's lips, which is something I had not expected.  And as a final little touch, Ana Ming has shoes that she can wear with this outfit.

In short, I'm not terribly impressed with this outfit's construction, and it has a trampy vibe about it that doesn't suit either Crissy or Ana Ming.  However, I bought the thing, and it fits Ana Ming, so it's here to stay.  Now I'm curious about the other two outfits that I left behind; one of the tops had long sleeves which may or may not fit Ana Ming.  It'll be interesting to test out, provided I get my hands on the outfit before some little kid does!

Happy last day of August,

RagingMoon1987