Long expected and since yesterday also really for sale: Barbie with a headscarf. Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad stood model.
The barbie, who also bears Muhammad’s name, has been on the website of barbie producer Mattel for a small 31 dollars since yesterday. Last year, the company announced that the American fenster, who won bronze in 2016 at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, would be the model for the doll.
In line with Muhammad her plastic miniature version wears a headscarf and screen suit and she is styled with Nike shoes, a face mask and gloves. Her right hand embraces a sword. Apart from the headscarf and dark skin color, the body of the new doll also deviates from a standard barbie.
Curvy
On the website of Mattel the body type is described as curvy (vaulted), because of the firm thighs. Those full legs were an explicit wish of Muhammad, because she wants girls to be proud of their body, regardless of size. Mattel has often been criticized for the white-blonde-thin beauty ideal that it would impose on girls. Since 2016, the company has been bringing dolls with varied body types onto the market.
The barbie with headscarf, designed by Kelley Lindberg, is part of the Shero series, derived from the term sheroes, with female role models. Among others, artist Frida Kahlo, boxing champion Nicola Adam Obe, journalist Martyna Wojciechowska and curvy model Ashley Graham already preceded Muhammad.