--- title: Barbie's Birthday: The Mattel Doll's Entire Wardrobe from 1963 description: From stewardess to babysitter, Barbie's career options were limited, but her evening-wear choices were abundant. canonical: https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-09T12:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:06.318Z og:title: Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963 og:description: From stewardess to babysitter, Barbie's career options were limited, but her evening-wear choices were abundant. og:url: https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7492be444655af6/698781b4cd6848ab3b099f42/150302-barbie-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: LIFE Magazine, August 23, 1963 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963 twitter:description: From stewardess to babysitter, Barbie's career options were limited, but her evening-wear choices were abundant. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7492be444655af6/698781b4cd6848ab3b099f42/150302-barbie-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Turning 50 with Barbie [Watch (HLS stream): Turning 50 with Barbie](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/i08di9zt.m3u8) (4:56)  _Published 2009-03-10. Katherine Lanpher -- along with Alaska and Hawaii -- is turning 50 this year, but Barbie is getting there first._  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Barbie's $136 wardrobe from nurse to nightclubber. Caption from LIFE. Barbie's $136 wardrobe from nurse to nightclubber. LIFE Magazine  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC In honor of Barbie’s fifth birthday in 1963, LIFE photographer Allan Grant photographed each of her 64 outfits, from evening gowns to beachwear to a pitifully limited array of career options. If little girls were basing their future career aspirations on those attained by their 11.5-inch plastic counterparts, they could set their sights on being a business executive, stewardess, ballerina, nurse or babysitter. Oh, and they had to be white. In the five years since she hit the market, Barbie had become a national sensation. She received 500 letters each week and had a national fan club. Fashion writers wrote about her wardrobe. She was also, LIFE noted, “the despair of nine million fathers who now find that Barbie has to be clothed just like wives and daughters.” The entire wardrobe could be purchased for $136, equivalent to just over $1,000 in today’s dollars. Barbie’s most expensive outfit (red velvet coat and taffeta ball gown) rang in at $5, two dollars more than it cost to buy the doll herself. In the following years, Mattel steadily increased Barbie’s career options, adding student teacher and astronaut in the 1960s, surgeon in the ’70s, and everything from McDonald’s cashier to presidential candidate since then. Barbies of other races were also introduced to the line, although early dolls were criticized for using white head molds and changing skin color, but not other features. Barbie may only be a toy, but the messages children pick up from playing with her [can stay with them](http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2014/mar/playing-barbie-dolls-could-limit-girls%E2%80%99-career-choices-study-shows) long after they put her to sleep in her Barbie Dream House. Now if only something could be done about [those proportions](http://time.com/3593968/the-new-normal-barbie-comes-with-an-average-womans-proportions-and-cellulite-sticker-extension-packs/). ## Transcript >> I'm turning 50 this year, but I'm not doing it alone. Magic Johnson, Marie Osmond, Sarah Ferguson-- the Duchess of York. Even two states, Hawaii and Alaska, are turning 50. But one name is getting all the attention. I'll give you some hints. She has body measurements not found in nature and she's made of so much plastic that if she had a hot flash, she'd melt a limb. That's right. It's Barbie. >> As of March 9th, she qualifies for AARP membership, although like most boomers, she shows no signs of slowing down. Barbie and I go way back. Did I mention that she's turning 51st? And while there's been a lot of fuss made over her measurements, the numbers I really envy are her career stats. >> Doctor Barbie's into making her patients feel good. She's-- >> Imagine, she has been a doctor, a nurse, an astronaut, a model, a NASCAR driver, an Olympic athlete, and a president who ran on the slogan, " Go vote. Go run. Go lead. Go girl ." She has starred in countless movies. Didn't you love Barbie and Swan Lake? And that's not even counting the documentaries made about her. She's been in at least three branches of the Armed Services and she's the subject of a commemorative stamp. Yeah, what have you done lately? Pray she doesn't come to your high school reunion. She's had 45 nationalities, several ethnicities, and one official boyfriend, Ken, although most of us know, she's stepped out on him with G. I. Joe. >> Ten seconds to lift off and counting. >> And really given the choice, who wouldn't? -[ unk ] meets for lunch at school. >> Ken was all about sock hops and a big Friday night date. G. I. Joe would woo you with lines like, " Eat lead, Cobra !" and " Vengeance is mine !" I guess it's true. We girls really do go for bad boys. Mattel says they sell a Barbie doll somewhere in the world every second. An estimated 1 billion clothing items had designed for her. She was a star at this winter's fashion week in New York with her own show, so mobbed, even ticket holders couldn't get in. She's worn outfits by Vera Wang, Armani, and Christian Lacroix to name just a few of the many designers who professed to love her, which makes her just about the only 50- year- old woman that loved by the fashion industry. It helps that she's not a size 12 petite and that her waist is only thickened once. That was in 1997 which is funny because that happened to me in 1997. See how much we have in common. >> Barbie and the Rockers-- >> Here's a prediction, Barbie will not be wearing spanx anytime soon, unlike me. As Shakespeare once wrote about Cleopatra, " Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety ." Oh, yeah. Barbie has also appeared as Cleopatra. In my added bedroom in Moline, Illinois, former farm implement capital of the world, I had a virtual Barbie clean them. Most of the gang was there. A few original Barbie Skipper, Skooter, Francie, even Truly Scrumptious from the Barbie version of Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. I didn't have a Ken. I didn't want one really. He always seemed too bloodless to me, besides the neighbors had a G. I. Joe. My Barbie lived in my imagination. She ruled the court in the time of King Arthur. She was Cinderella. She was Marlo Thomas in " That Girl ." She drove a convertible. She played the piano. She dressed up in a hat and she flew to New York for job interviews. If she had a boyfriend, he was imaginary. And look at me now, I live in New York, I go on job interviews, and all my boyfriends are imaginary. Did I mention that she's turning 51st? She has quite the birthday year coming up a new cosmetics line, a series of accessories designed in Paris, an 8- story shop in Shanghai, and a $ 500 coffee table book put out by a luxury publisher. I'm going to have cake. Along with that, I'll probably also have a new wrinkle or two and an unexplained hot flash and a new pain in my left knee. But I like to think that I'll still have this in common with Barbie-- possibility. I thought she could do anything. Man, I could do anything too. I like to think that's still true. So, happy birthday, Barbie. 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