--- 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: 2026-04-13T07:17:17.904Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963 ## 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/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/"},"headline":"Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963","datePublished":"2015-03-09T12:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:17.904Z","description":"Happy 56th birthday to America’s most beloved—and controversial—doll","url":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/","keywords":["curiosities","Newsfeed","Living","photography","1963","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7492be444655af6/698781b4cd6848ab3b099f42/150302-barbie-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7492be444655af6/698781b4cd6848ab3b099f42/150302-barbie-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"LIFE Magazine, August 23, 1963","caption":"August 23, 1963 Life Magazine spread about Barbie","creditText":"LIFE Magazine","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/curiosities/","name":"curiosities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/","name":"Here is Every Single One of Barbie’s Outfits From 1963"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Turning 50 with Barbie","description":"Katherine Lanpher -- along with Alaska and Hawaii -- is turning 50 this year, but Barbie is getting there first.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/i08di9zt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-03-10T04:03:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/i08di9zt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/","duration":"PT4M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3728758/barbie-wardrobe/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```