So, I was asked to style a Barbie doll for LG Fashion Week. I thought it would be fun so I accepted the challenge. It turned out that Barbie was an albatross.

I had a bunch of ideas for Barbie swirling in my head: Give her a haircut, make her a mini me, fur, etc. It was really hard to boil it down. With the deadline soon approaching I came up with something and I thought it was pretty fucking clever. Dare to Wear Love Barbie. Here is my quote for her

“I guess this is the Dare to Wear Love Barbie. I really loved the small samples of fabric that were left on front row seats at the Dare to Wear Love show last season. I collected them all. Barbie’s proportions allowed me to create the wrap dress I could never wear given the amount of material.”

I made the dress (check that architectural shoulder), the necklace and bracelets. I also dyed the shoes and handbag to match.   She also got a little haircut. My mom thought she was excellent, I was confident. I was all proud of myself and the great tie in to last LG Fashion week. I packed up Barbie and dropped her off to the GCI Group Toronto office.

It was the next day I got the call. Apparently there was a theme and it was LBD. Dare to Wear Love Barbie didn’t fit that theme. Now, I read the brief that was given to me and I was under the impression that there were no rules. I received tweets from staff at GCI Group that said there were no rules either. You can imagine I wasn’t the slightest bit impressed with this development. Here’s a PR Pro Tip for you, make your communication ambiguous free! I’m a Software Tester so ambiguity and me aren’t friends at all and to be burned by it really galled me.

So here I was with a new Barbie, my old Barbie (I was allowed to keep her) and no ideas. I was really beginning to detest Barbie once more. She was the damn albatross around my neck (If you aren’t getting my albatross references will you please go out and read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner already!). I really had no idea what I was going to do; the hoochie mama dress had to stay. I was quickly losing motivation.

Thank god for Dean Davidson. I was at his place on Saturday borrowing jewellery for Prom V: Noir. I managed to convince him to create jewellery for my Barbie. The only thing you need to dress up a LBD is some fabulous Dean Davidson pieces. Barbie was slowly turning into a tribute to Dean. So Dean and I designed a statement necklace, earrings and bracelets. The earrings and bracelets had Dean’s signature brushed metal finish. They are pretty damn cute.  I added a Dean Davidson book and silver ribbon for a belt.

So, I dropped Barbie off on Sunday before the Izma show. The other Barbies look amazing and once I get better photos I will post them all. That is my story about the two Barbies and the frustrating ride its been. I know which one I like better, what do you guys think?