Black Barbie
Director Lagueria Davis, of Los Angeles CA
DOLL STYLIST & COSTUMER
Duties & Responsibilities:
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Wardrobe & doll sourcing for all characters from Los Angeles retail stores, markets & online sources. Mindful attention towards variations in Barbie's & celebrities in matching skin tones, facial features, hair styles & coloring, personal tastes in attire, hair textures, & doll body flexibility options for posing.
Managing & tracking of materials, expenses & petty cash within budgetary constraints. Itemized spreadsheets with receipts submitted to production company.
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Customize Barbies as needed to most clearly resemble target celebrities. i.e. haircuts, highlights, jewelry items, style, colors they most wear, preferences on shoes & silhouettes, etc.
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Replicate all ensembles from The Envelope cover. Custom make Barbie sized clothing to imitate what was not found sourcing existing clothings from vintage options.
Design and make new Vanity Fair style gala dresses to taste and color palettes of celebrities for 'Black Barbie' version of singular ethnic inclusion. Painting, adorning & bejeweling shoes & accessory items. Styling with sourced vintage & new items for other gala gowns.
Style corporate scenes for black & white Barbies & Kens.
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Pose, adjust and style Barbie dolls on set for filming in relation to needs per scene. Glue or use stands to keep standing. Style hair flyaways, add pillows to sit up higher without being seen. Situate and disperse dolls to most visually resemble what's needed.
The View in a Corporate Boardroom
with Singular Skin Tone Inclusion
Black Barbie
A Documentary
As the doll stylist on this film,
I found Barbies in all skin tones.
From blonde highlights to dark roots,
And curvy dolls with afro poofs,
Diversity was displayed in doll form.
On covers and in boardrooms,
These women are sisters and mothers.
Raised up all their daughters.
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Little girls who see sparkles in sand
And stop for a while to dirty her hands.
What we give to her is what determines
The next world we will next live in.
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Director: Lagueria Davis
Cinematographer: Rita Baghdadi
Dioramas Production Artist: Laurel Frank
Doll Stylist & Costumer: Mindy Davis
The View in a Corporate Boardroom
where Diversity & Inclusion is Valued
office to illustrate what it feels like to be in the minority as a person of differing skin tone to an overwhelming majority. For these characters, I was easily able to identify recurring patterns of archetypal persons within the tiers of management and office workings. The CEO, Uncle Simon, wearing a corduroy jacket and loafers, oversees from a place of great wisdom & experience. His Nephew, who is destined to inherit the company, sporting a Malibu raglan under his Fraternity crested blazer, is topped with a blonde quaff. A beautiful woman sits across the table in vintage Chanel (hand-made items in orange tweed, altered from clothes made in the 1960's by my grandmother), with the newest iPhone in hand, and a fresh highlights job done on her hair over the weekend.
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An all European American
An all African American
office in comparison. During
the character styling & development process with the director, it came to my attention that I had no personal references to utilize for superiors in the ten+ years of companies I had worked with that included black management peoples, save for one woman.
LA's The Envelope cover
that called for more diversity in Hollywood, with a single woman of African American descent added in, to illustrate the Director's desire to point out how she believes women of color feel when they do not see representation in the publicized images of Hollywood's elite.
Kate Winslet
Mandarin Peekaboo Top
Base: 1980's Ken Doll mandarin tricot knit coat by Mattel (taken in to fit Made to Move Barbie, sleeves cut, & CF seam from waist to bottom w/ cutout bust F).
Trims: Disco ball bead closure w/ thread loop.
Machine & Hand Sewn
Doll Alterations: Acrylic paint hair highlights
Custom made added accessories: Anti Silver jump rings for bracelets, Glued glitter to doll's finger for wedding band, Necklace pendant pieces + wire for earrings.
Pants from Divergent movie series Tris doll by Mattel.
Asymmetrical Dress Self: Heather Grey ladies' crew sock
Hand Sewn
Diane Kruger
's aim to feature a powerful female cast of Hollywood's leading elite was criticized by some for its showcasing of only European descended women. To illustrate this divide in portraying diversity,
I replicated in miniature these high end pieces in doll size for Lagueria Davis'
documentary film.
LA's The Envelope cover
Saoirse Ronan
Annette Benning
Mesh & Lace Dress
Base: 1960's Mini Dress
Cont 1: Grid lace
Cont 2: Tiny mesh cut from alt beaded trim.
Trim: Cut strips from
skirt's grid lace, applied as a placement trim.
Hand Sewn
Batwing Top
Self: Blue/Black
metallic mesh
Hand Sewn
An Imagined Vanity Fair cover
showcasing only African American Hollywood idols looking at a single woman of lighter complexion, puts in to perspective the ethnic divide, but in reverse. Though female empowerment is embraced, a balanced inclusion within categories of race is still not portrayed; it is still one odd woman out against a majority group.
Beyoncé
Vintage hand-made 1950's Bralette w/ lace trim under a 1960's ivory silk gala gown.
Accessories: Gold hoop earrings by Mattel
Rihanna
Red Carpet Dress
Self: Metallic blue/black mesh
Hand Sewn
Vintage 1980's Metallic jacket by Mattel
Accessories: Black geo necklace, Cutout studded black platform boots.
Oprah
Tiffany Haddish
Kerry Washington
Amandala Stenberg
Vintage 1980's silk emerald green tiered ruffle skirt w tiny zipper. Hand-made by my grandmother.
1970's Blue geo kimono by Mattel
Accessories: Pink stiletto heels (painted blue w/ MAC nail polish), & black glasses by Mattel.
Vintage 1980's black skirt w/ metallic strips over a 1960's bronze silk metallic dress.
Hand-made by my grandmother.
Accessories: 1990's gold embossed envelope purse & burgundy boots by Mattel.
Vintage 1980's Orange/rose gold metallic knit skirt & bodice, reversed & sewn to make long skirt + grid lace shawl top & black knit.
Hand Sewn.
Accessories: Platform heels by Mattel (added glitter & painted black.)
Vintage 1970's red floral silk evening dress.
Hand-made by my grandma, taken in for doll.
Accessories: Hot pink necklace by Mattel (painted gold with MAC nail polish, & then covered in rose gold glitter & silver metallic pearl beads), & vintage 1990's red ballet flats.
Imagined Barbie Doll Diorama with Hollywood Starlets of Diverse Pigments, Together.
