Dirty Shiny Pretty: Sunday with Barbie

Chillin with the girls

My body aches, my fingers are sore, my brain is mush, and my eyes are burning. No, I'm not sick, I've just been playing Barbies with B for the last few hours. Sitting on the floor, hunched over a pile of plastic dolls trying to fit their ginormous hips and boobs into pieces of fabric no more that an inch wide will do that to a full grown woman. Don't get me wrong. I love playing with B and its fun having an excuse to play with the toys I loved as child, but at the end of playtime its all too obvious I've aged well beyond my 26 years. When we finally stopped playing all I wanted to do was nap. B just wanted to move onto a new game.

As any girl who has played with Barbies knows the best part is dressing them up. Most of my Barbie memories involve dolls in different states of undress patiently waiting for me to finish styling them for whatever activity awaited them (usually a Jeep ride and meal with GI Joe). I'm actually in awe that my sister and I didn't all grow up to be 80s hair band groupies, having spent years under the influence of Barbie's blue eyeshadow, pink lipstick, crop tops, and mini skirts. Rest assured Barbie has maintained her iconically inappropriate style all while shedding her corporate conservative pumps for sexy new footwear. I covet several of the colored plastic shoes currently strewn about B's Barbie house. Not sure when Barbie started sporting stylish shoes, maybe Christian Louboutin's collection was the catalyst, but I'm glad it happened. I mean if a plastic dolls is going to inspire a love of ridiculously high heels in my daughter she should at least do it wearing shoes I wouldn't mind sitting in my closet.

My love of Barbie's shoes has me thinking about giving this site a try so I can make my own Barbie inspired heels. What do you think? Would you rock a pair of Barbie's shoes?