--- description: How Mattel decided to give Barbie three new shapes: tall, petite and curvy title: Watch Barbie Designers Explain Why They Finally Changed Her Body image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19db56793612a8f/69887b06ab6d77c5656a8280/see-barbies-new-body-feat-image.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Barbie](/tag/barbie/) ## Barbie Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Barbie Got Curvy: Inside the Radical Remake of an Icon by [Cubie King](/author/cubie-king/) and [Julia Lull](/author/julia-lull/) Jan 28, 2016 12:00 PM CUT  Photographs by Kenji Aoki for TIME by [Cubie King](/author/cubie-king/) and [Julia Lull](/author/julia-lull/) Jan 28, 2016 12:00 PM CUT [Barbie](http://time.com/barbie "undefined") has been a lightning rod for controversy since her debut at the New York Toy Fair in 1959\. Mattel has made subtle changes to the doll’s body and face over the years, but none as dramatic as the changes they are making now by adding three new body types: [tall, petite and curvy](http://time.com/barbie "undefined"). Barbie’s sales have dropped dramatically in the past few years in the face of fierce competition from what parents perceive to be more progressive playthings—like the Lego Friends toys and the _Frozen_ doll. “Some of the things that people said about Barbie was that she might be a bad role model for girls, that she represents an unrealistic body type,” says Jess Weiner, a branding expert and consultant who has worked with Dove, Disney and Mattel to create empowering messages for girls. [**Read the TIME cover story on Barbie’s new body**](http://time.com/barbie "undefined") In a world where curvaceous stars like Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Nikki Minaj rule pop culture, Barbie felt out-of-touch. After 57 years of criticism, Mattel finally determined to update the doll. ### Photographer Kenji Aoki Captures Barbie’s Transformation for TIME  A silhouette of Mattel's new Curvy Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  A silhouette of Mattel's new Curvy Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  Mattel's new Curvy Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  A silhouette of Mattel's new Tall Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  Mattel's new Curvy Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  A silhouette of Mattel's new Petite Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME  Mattel's new Curvy Barbie Kenji Aoki for TIME “We said to our teams, ‘If you could start the brand over today and you didn’t have any rules, you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do?'” says Kim Culmone, the head of design at Barbie. The answer was greater diversity—in terms of skin tone, hair color and texture and finally body size. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4196229/barbies-new-body-watch-designers-explain-why-they-changed-her/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4196229/barbies-new-body-watch-designers-explain-why-they-changed-her/"},"headline":"How Barbie Got Curvy: Inside the Radical Remake of an Icon","datePublished":"2016-01-28T12:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:32.602Z","description":"Why Mattel decided to give Barbie three new shapes: tall, petite and curvy","url":"https://time.com/4196229/barbies-new-body-watch-designers-explain-why-they-changed-her/","keywords":["Barbie","mattel","curvy barbie"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19db56793612a8f/69887b06ab6d77c5656a8280/see-barbies-new-body-feat-image.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cubie King","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cubie-king/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Lull","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-lull/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19db56793612a8f/69887b06ab6d77c5656a8280/see-barbies-new-body-feat-image.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"see-barbies-new-body-feat-image","caption":"See Barbie's new body","creditText":"Photographs by Kenji Aoki for TIME","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":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/barbie/","name":"Barbie"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4196229/barbies-new-body-watch-designers-explain-why-they-changed-her/","name":"How Barbie Got Curvy: Inside the Radical Remake of an Icon"}}]}] ```