The First Indian Barbie Is Here To Change The World
Mattel has created the first Indian Barbie doll for 2022 in collaboration with Deepica Mutyala
When we say “Barbie”, the picture of a tall, blonde, thin girl with a pretty face comes to our mind as this “too good to be true” image of the doll has been engraved in our memory since childhood. However, Mattel, the manufacturing company of Barbie, has been promoting diversity and inclusion over the decades to make children around the world can see their culture’s representation and feel more included.
Recently, Mattel has created their first Indian Barbie in collaboration with Deepica Mutyala, founder and CEO of the makeup brand Live Tinted. This brown-skinned Barbie is already winning hearts with her power pantsuit, jhumkas, and bangles.
There’s no doubt that the last couple of years has been revolutionary for brown skin people. From mainstream television to the sweeping wave of South-Asian faces in popular shows. Such as Simone Ashley’s Kathani ‘Kate’ Sharma in Bridgerton season 2, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan in Ms Marvel, among others.
It is pure hard work and patience that led Mutyala to achieve her dreams after quitting her job to become a beauty influencer and finally launching her own brand, which was able to raise more than 3 million USD in 2021. “After going through the fundraising process, I feel like I have so much to unpack with that. And I hope with that unpacking I can create some sort of economic equality for people of colour, specifically women of colour, to help make it easier for them to get capital and start their entrepreneurial journey,” Mutyala says.
Image Credit: Vogue India
This is surely a huge step towards inclusion and we hope the day is not far away when the picture of a tall, blonde, and skinny girl will not appear in our minds when we hear “barbie” rather it will bring a picture of the representation of our own culture.
- Staff Reporter
