KITH Women Launches Barbie Doll Collaboration Contest, Retrospective
The winning design will be turned into a limited edition Barbie figure.
KITH keeps busy for autumn, with its Malin+Goetz collaboration and special Def Jam goods followed by yet another joint effort. This time, KITH Women is joining forces with Barbie for a series of events in time for the iconic doll’s 60th anniversary.
Key to the festivities is a styling contest, in which entrants will visit the Arsham/Fieg gallery at KITH Soho to customize one of four unique Barbie dolls with 80 bespoke apparel and accessory pieces, sourced from the real-life KITH Women line. A photo of each personalized doll will then be evaluated by industry tastemakers — KITH Women director Jackie Kim, Dianne Garcia, Maeve Reilly, Ade Samuel and KITH founder Ronnie Fieg. The top six looks will then be voted on by the public via KITH Women’s Instagram and social platforms, with the winning design produced and sold by Mattel through KITH’s global outposts in late 2020.
Along with the contest, KITH will launch 200 KITH x Barbie 60th anniversary T-shirts, dropping alongside a retrospective exhibition. Key takeaways from the exhibit will include a museum-inspired layout to highlight Barbie’s enduring pop culture status, historical ephemera and the original Barbie doll from 1959, clad in her famous black and white chevron swimsuit.
The celebration begins at KITH’s Soho outpost on September 21, with the contest running until September 29 and the retrospective ending on October 2.
Most recently, we went backstage at KITH Air’s New York Fashion Week show for a closer look at a variety of collaborative items.
