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The Day of the Dead Barbie doll that designer Benito Santos dreamed of

2022-10-01T23:30:45.226Z


The Mexican designer is co-creator of the new limited edition of the famous doll, which looks like a catrina with an outfit inspired by charrería


Barbie wears a three-piece outfit inspired by the cultural tradition of charro outfits.

She is adorned with white and crimson floral embroidery that runs along the dress's silhouette and a layered mermaid hemline.

The outfit is accented with a cropped bolero jacket with a satin lapel and is complemented by a white shirt with a pleated front and a red bow tie.

The makeup on her face, with black, pink and blue tones, simulates the figure of the catrina.

This is the Benito Santos doll, with which she pays homage to her roots, hand in hand with Mattel, and leaves her mark on the company's traditional collection in honor of the Day of the Dead.

The designer from Jalisco is co-creator of this limited edition and collectible,

The first rapprochement between Santos and the Mattel subsidiary in Mexico took place in 2019 at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, an event in which the designer, inspired by Barbie, presented 60 outfits representative of the doll's most iconic outfits for his new collection. .

This event generated so much content that it aroused the attention of the offices in the United States and thus came the proposal to design the 2022 Day of the Dead Barbie. In absolute secrecy, for more than a year and a half, the fashion creator worked hand in hand with Mattel in the process of conceptualization, sketching and selection of the details of the doll.

“It has been an incredible collaboration.

From the beginning of the project I was very excited, I always dreamed of dressing my own Barbie and now it is a reality.

Mattel worked with me hand in hand throughout the process, we bounced ideas around until we captured it in the final sketch.

I am very happy to see the result”, Santos responds to EL PAÍS through a questionnaire.

Santos' dream dates back to his childhood in Tepehuaje de Morelos, a town in Jalisco.

Today, at 45 years old, he remembers that his cousins ​​had dolls and he wanted to play with them, dress them, put accessories on them.

As a future designer he was a dream.

“From a very young age I wanted to play with dolls, those were other times and I couldn't do it.

My childhood dreams have materialized in a way that I never imagined, Benito Santos has his own Barbie”, he affirms.

The expectation was not for less.

The Santos Barbie first went on sale online on September 8 exclusively in the United States for collectors and members of Mattel Creations.

Its selling price was $100 and it sold out in three minutes.

The collection figure co-created by the designer from Jalisco, according to Devin Tucker, senior manager in charge of Mattel's global communication area, is part of the gold collection

(

Gold Collection

), for which only 20,000 units were produced, which were distributed among the US, Mexican and Chinese markets.

“I never imagined such a response and I couldn't be happier.

The biggest challenge was to represent Mexico with dignity, that our tradition would be printed in the reinterpretation that I made of the typical charro suit of my state, Jalisco.

I am very grateful that [Mattel's collaborators] were always open to my proposal and willing to translate my ideas,” adds Santos.

Mexican designer Benito Santos shows off a model of Barbie doll's Day of the Dead outfit.RAFAHELL (Mattel)

The doll had a first presale in Mexican territory on September 15 and later its official launch was on the 28th of the same month through the El Palacio de Hierro stores.

On both dates the dolls were not enough, since they are sold out.

On digital platforms, the resale price of the fashion doll ranges between 700 and 1,000 dollars.

However, Brenda Medel, a public relations officer for Mattel in Mexico, announced that the limited-edition Barbie will once again be available in department stores very close to the Day of the Dead date.

Santos, who studied medicine and fashion design in Guadalajara, declares himself a "man passionate about his roots."

He was part of the presentation of his doll

On the Day of the Dead Benito Santos x Barbie

which was made in the Polanco area, dressed in black with a jacket with crimson embroidered flowers, like the one of his creation.

He admitted that he lives listening to mariachis every day and that he grew up hearing folklore from his grandmother, his mother and those around him.

Her doll is an amalgam of various arts that is even inspired by the golden cinema of Mexico and muses such as María Félix or Dolores del Río, for the braided hairstyle in the form of a headband like those of that time that the creation wears. her.

“I am a faithful lover of Mexican folklore and it is a factor printed in the DNA of the firm.

This doll is very important and will remain in my memory until the last day of my life”, he specifies.

Santos debuted as a designer in 2008 and has been present at important fashion events in Mexico and Latin America, as well as being invited to participate in platforms such as Fashion Week in New York and Los Angeles.

Now, with his doll, he is part of a tradition established by Mattel since 2019, through the

Day of the Dead collection.

, which is one of the most important traditions of Mexican culture.

In the first editions of this series, reference was made to cultural symbols of the country such as monarch butterflies, sugar skulls, cempasúchil flowers, and, with the most recent addition, charrería, a sport declared as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known for short as UNESCO.

Having his own Barbie was a joy not only as a designer, but also for his "inner child".

Reason why he considers it important to break with taboos and not pigeonhole toys or objects into genres.

"There is still a lot to do on issues of inclusion and I am willing to be part of the change so that the new generations grow up freer," he adds, so that, paraphrasing Barbie, "they can be whatever they want to be."

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-10-01

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