That would make understandable the name “Lilli” for the doll since it was the name of a romantically mythical prostitute from Germany immoralized in a Marlene Dietrich song, “Lilli Marlene” (and for which Lilli doll was sold as an export to the USA).

When Lilli did not come in her tube packaging, she came in a cellophane baggie-type bag. It looked, infact, like a body bag for delivery to a morgue, but we’ll over-look that detail for the moment. There is known to exist a five inch, very svelte Lilli advertising figure which possibly served as a presentation stand for the cellophane packaged dolls. One of the cellophane packaged dolls was found in the same outfit as featured in an early article entitled “Lilli, Die schwebende Dame in Minatur-Ausfuhrung." This article, found within the context of a magicians’ catalogue Werry Zauberkunst (“Hauptkatalog Nr. 3”) shows Lilli drawn in a very enigmatic, very mid-forties style “conjuring outfit," the kind seen on magician’s assistants, a brassière-style top, and a very open long wrap skirt accented with a flower. The cellophane-packaged Lilli wears the exact same outfit which is red silky synthetic material. It seems that this Lilli doll was actually able to be purchased through the catalogue as part of a “disappearing doll” trick. It cost 38.50 German marks at the time. Lilli would later disappear for good and her whereabouts and possible other aliases are considered later in this research report.

Lilli plays a significant role in the fashion doll history and the toy industry. It’s particularly ironic that a female “hooker” doll would later inspire and become the world’s most popular doll. Even though by 1958, big, early life-size dolls such as Patty Play Pal, Betsy McCall etc. were the main thrust of a commercial doll fad, and there was a great choice of both large and small fashion dolls to choose from in a variety of fashion and social messages, the slim fashion doll was just about to come fully into its own.

Out of the so-called “procuration of the rights” to "Bild" Lilli (a “contractual settlement for the rights of Lilli," according to Beverly Cannady, previous director of licensing for Mattel in the Barbie News Network magazine, vol. 2, no. 4 as well as in personal conversations), Mattel Toy Corporation would evolve the Barbie doll. Even though she was slightly, and I do mean slightly, facially adjusted for the American market, Barbie would project a new personality into the slim doll. It was the famous Jack Ryan, star marketing man and co-ordindator at Mattel Toys ( for whom this author wrote his offical obituary for the London Standard) who made these slight changes to the doll and conceptualized her marketing in the USA.

The adjustments to the original "Bild" Lilli included the removing of her asterisk-shaped flower earrings from the mould as well as the removal of the moulded-on shoes. In one article on the Internet recently, they claimed her “nipples” were filed off with a Swiss army knife, this being pure gossip since “Bild” Lilli never had anything as flagrant as nipples. The painting of lips changed but that is probably because for real women it had also changed. The original head, made in two pieces in order to insert from the back the mohair ponytail and spit curl, would be transformed into a single piece head in heavy vinyl material as the hair on Barbie Doll was rooted and without a spit curl but with a full set of curly bangs -very Gidget looking.

Everything else was identically the same. In examining the first Barbie prototypes, there were a few various tries to improve the Lilli doll construction (these prototype Barbie dolls are not injection-moulded in the same way as the real product and do not have the markings of the distributed doll, making her even closer to the original unmarked "Bild" Lilli doll). However, the Lilli dolls’ construction was ultimately the best way to form the doll and thus was kept the same for the Barbie doll. Barbie, however, was injection-moulded high-quality vinyl which did not require stringing as Lilli did.

Barbie also would have a more haute couture-oriented wardrobe, that is with tenues directly inspired by French and Italian high fashion, which was interspersed among Barbie’s otherwise suburban tastes. Less sleazy and, according to the advertising, “fully-lined," Barbie’s clothes would soften the “ice-bitch” goddess look (one Barbie doll collector’s description of her personality), she had as a hold-over from her German incarnation. Cold and glacial, Barbie was presented with what the designers at Mattel thought was, according to Mrs. Handler, the woman behind the first Barbie doll, a “blank” expression “so that little girls could project their fantasies into the doll”. Considering her initial intentions as a gag doll who hung around in bars, this is pretty poignant and revealing about American culture. It surely could not imply that little American girls had fantasies about being big-chested, svelte callgirls, or could it?

Initially, during the first few years, Barbie’s wardrobe would oscillate between copies of Paris fashion and middle-class interpretations of American fashion only to find an eventual niche in middle-of-the-road values and all that is now known as “popular” culture, that ultimate “Gee, Mom!” way of life. The basic idea was that in the complete wardrobe, there was something for every type of middle-class taste. A few outfits were extremely fashionable, others simply considered the era’s idea of good taste, and still others specifically for teenage, sports, and household activities.

The Barbie Ensemble Pak's complete high fashion outfits” by 1965 had a number of real haute couture tendencies reflected in the wardrobe, but the majority looked like American suburban ready-to-wear. Shelley Winters as the wife of Humbert Humbert, the lecherous and overtly villainous step-daddy in the eternally poignant film Lolita by Stanley Kubrick immediately comes to mind.....as well as “Camp Climax for Girls”....Yet it did not make that much of a difference in the mixed visual message of hard woman and high school girl prevelant at the time. Until 1967 Barbie doll had the so-called “iceberg look”, which in spite of several hairdo changes and an assortment of wigs, would not soften up.

Meanwhile, the "Bild" Lilli doll would be continued to be made in Hong Kong probably at first by Dura-Fam, Ltd (these exact same moulded Lilli dolls were first marked Hong Kong with the letter “F” in a square).