“BARBIE WAS EVERYTHING we didn’t want to be and were being told to be,” said feminist activist Gloria Steinem in “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie.” The 2018 documentary explored the now 63-year-old Mattel doll’s inception, cultural influence and evolution from an unattainable, Caucasian-centric standard of female beauty to a more inclusive character rendered in different races, body types and skin colors.
However, even with Ms. Steinem’s stance ringing in their ears, many women are embracing Barbiecore, an aesthetic that recalls the pink-and-neon-clad toys of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, with their blond hair, tiny waists and perma-pointed, stiletto-ready feet.
