That’s right! Our miniverse has two new residents: Barbie Fashionista 109 and 159!
Barbie Fashionistas aren’t usually on my wishlist due to their limited articulation; however, these girls are one of the rare exceptions. I’ve been eyeing them for quite some time. In the case of Fashionista 109, since 2019! (She’s going to have a special place in our miniverse😉).
So, without further ado, let’s open them up and introduce them to the rest of the crew!
Meet Barbie Fashionista 109:
Here we have Barbie Fashionista 109:
She is part of the Spring 2019 line-up, which includes sixteen other Fashionistas.
Fashionistas are very budget-friendly, costing around $9.99 each. But, since this doll has been around for a while, I ended up paying a little more for her.
Yeah, I don’t make it a habit of paying $20 for an unarticulated doll (too much of that can really add up), but this girl is too pretty to keep passing up! Plus, I was lucky enough to have a Made-To-Move Barbie body already on hand, so I don’t have to plop down an extra $15 for that.
Out of the box, we see Barbie Fashionista 109 has loose pink hair and is wearing a leopard-print outfit with black boots.
Her skin tone is very light, and her makeup is minimal–just a hint of blush across her cheeks. She has forward-facing, bluish-gray eyes and salmon-colored lips. Her lips are barely parted, revealing a sweet smile.
What I love most about this doll, though, are her baby pink locks. They’re so whimsical!
Her hair is completely straight and falls just below her waist. It was kind of frizzy right out of the box, but a spritz of water and quick combing remedied that.
The Outfit:
Fashionista 109 comes wearing a leopard-print dress over a white crop top.
The dress and shirt are separate pieces. The dress has a short ruffle stitched around the bust, two black ribbons for shoulder straps, and closes in the back with Velcro. The shirt is sewn from a stretchy, knit material and slips on and off over the doll’s head.
For footwear, she dons a pair of black, heeled boots. The boots have a slit in the back and slip over her feet easily. They are quite plain, lacking molded details like stitching, buttons, or shoelaces. They kind of remind me of paddock boots (which I’m 100% okay with😉).
Finally, our pretty, pink-haired girl wears a matte silver bracelet around her right wrist.
No doubt about it, Fashionista 109 is absolutely gorgeous, but she’s not perfect–at least, not yet. She needs a Made-To-Move body! But, before diving into a head swap, let’s open up Fashionista 159 (that way we can rebody both at the same time😉).
Meet Fashionista 159:
Barbie Fashionista 159 is from the Spring 2021 series.
There are only thirteen dolls in this wave; however, three of those dolls (the ones with wheelchairs) have Made-To-Move bodies.
Except for the wheelchair dolls, this year’s Fashionistas come packaged in “reusable vinyl bags.”
While I miss the traditional Fashionista boxes, this newfangled packaging isn’t a total flop. First of all, opening the box–er–bag was way easier. Just cut the plastic tie holding the zipper and unzip! Secondly, there weren’t as many plastic stays, and none of the stays were in the doll’s clothes so her dress is hole-free.
Barbie Fashionista 159 is a petite doll.
She has green eyes, brown eyeshadow, some blush, and pink lipstick. Her lips are a little pixelated–a flaw that’s popping up more and more in the Barbie community.
Her complexion is slightly darker than 109’s. I believe she’ll be a good match for the blonde Made-To-Move Barbie.
From the back, we see she has straight, blondish-brown hair that’s waist-length and layered.
The Outfit:
Fashionista 159 sports a spunky, casual look. She wears a colorful tie-dyed t-shirt dress with the words Femme and Fierce printed on the front.
She finishes her outfit with a pair of white sneakers and a translucent blue visor–which, unfortunately, is attached to her head with plastic ties😒.
Alright, now that we’ve met and admired the dolls, let’s give them the ultimate poseable Barbie body!
The Swap:
Like their Fashionista sisters, these dolls have just five points of articulation:
I can handle minimal articulation on small dolls (like Tink), but larger dolls (like Barbie) need a broader range of motion. As they are, these poor girls can’t even sit down! Luckily, we can fix that. We just need to find Made-To-Move Barbies with matching skin tones.
For Fashionista 109, I chose the Curvy Peach Top Barbie (you could also use the Purple Top Barbie). And for Fashionista 159, I used the new Blonde Made-To-Move Barbie.
After swapping their bodies, I styled their hair in ways I hope reflect their personalities. Fashionista 109’s hair is pulled back in a super simple braided half ponytail, and 159’s is tied up in a high ponytail.
Final Thoughts:
I am so pleased with how these two girls turned out. I adore Fashionista 109’s fairytale charm and 159’s awesome athletic vibes.
But we can’t keep calling them 109 and 159. They need names–and maybe a backstory. What shall we call them? How about…
Jaqueline and Carol
As I mentioned earlier, Jaqueline (Jackie for short) has a special role in our miniverse. She’s Petra’s sister!
Petra and Jackie grew up in a tiny suburban town. When Petra left home to pursue a career in modeling, Jackie stayed behind and took over the family business–farming! She grows crops and raises livestock, which includes a couple of cows, goats, and chickens. Her favorite pet is a Silkie hen named Wendy.
After a few years of lights, cameras, and building up a substantial nest egg, Petra returned home and opened her own business: a doll-sized market. To help pay the farm’s expenses, Jackie sells homegrown veggies, eggs, and milk at her sister’s store.
Carol, on the other hand, is not a farm girl. She’s into sports, promoting girl power, and has a brash personality that can rub people the wrong way.
Now it’s your turn!
What do you think of this year’s Barbie Fashionistas? Personally, I’m really excited to see Mattel add some Made-To-Move dolls to the line (especially Ken). If only they would make all Fashionistas that way!
I sure hope you enjoyed this look at Barbie Fashionista 109 and 159. Be sure to check back soon because I have more content in the works–crafty content, to be exact😉!
I loved this post! It’s a huge event for me whenever you post because I love this blog so much. I’m very excited to see what Jackie and Carol do in your miniverse. Carol especially intrigues me, since we didn’t hear as much about her. I also thought it was cool that Jackie is Petra’s sister! And I never expected that Petra used to be a model.
Thanks for posting! It means a lot to me and my dolls. 🙂
Thanks for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post😁.
Yes, I love giving my dolls backstories–it makes their characters much more interesting. I’ve been working on Petra’s the longest, so her’s is pretty well established (model turned entrepreneur). Carol’s needs a bit more fleshing out, but I have a general idea. It’s going to be fun seeing where all this leads😉.
I love your new dolls, their names and backstories. I also love their new hairstyles. I’m terrible at styling a doll’s hair, so I don’t do it very often.
I haven’t been really into the newest Fashionistas because, to be fair, I don’t need another stiff doll to find an articulated body for. Now I just buy the ones that really speak to me, like the first vitiligo doll. From this last wave, I like the A.A one in the weelchair, as well as the A.A Ken with the “Saved by the bell” outfit, but I’m not going crazy to get them. The only doll I’m really interested in getting is the curvy one from the new “Barbie Looks” line, she is gorgeous.
Wish you a great rest of the week
I totally understand what you mean–I’m ultra picky about buying Fashionistas because having to rebody them is so costly. My favorites tend to be fairytale-ish, although I do like Fashionista 110 and the Made-To-Move Ken. Like you, though, I doubt I’ll get them.
I’m terrible at styling hair too😄. That’s why most of my dolls wear ponytails or a variation of a ponytail.
Glad you liked the review! Hope you have an awesome week as well!