One of the most popular toys for young American girls during the last several decades has been the Barbie doll, which debuted by the Mattel company in 1959 at the New York Toy Fair. The first Barbies were slim but shapely, eleven and a half inches tall, and sold for S3.00. Girls could not only collect the dolls but a whole range of fashions ("authentic in every detail," her makers proudly proclaimed) for the Barbie to wear. Although the earliest dolls had dead white skin and limp hair, by the early 1960s her skin tone was more natural and her designers were giving her a variety of hairstyles, especially the beehives and bubble cuts that were popular at the time. Barbie's ever-changing wardrobe also reflected the fashions of the time, from the elegance of first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to the short-skirted "Carnaby Street...