There’s a new more realistic girl about town and she might be about to give Barbie a pretty good run for her money...
In the wake of recent outcries at the disproportionately small scale of a Barbie doll's body (which by the way are an eye-watering 36 inch chest, 18 inch waist, and 33 inch hips), American artist Nickolay Lamm created a photoshopped image of a more realistic version as part of a body image project. Sharing the picture online, the image quickly went viral with an overwhelmingly positive reaction. By March 5, 2014 a crowdfunding campaign was launched to make dolls with a more typical human body proportions a reality.
So, taking the measurements of the average 19 year old American woman, Lamm set about creating what he referred to as ‘normal’ Barbie known as Lammily. Created with the tagline ‘average is beautiful’ Lammily seeks to promote realistic beauty standards and a healthier approach to women's beauty standards. She’s made in line with typical human body proportions, advocates a healthy lifestyle, is fit, strong and stylish and wears minimal makeup . She even comes complete with a pack of stickers referred to as ‘Lammily marks’ that work to emulate cellulite, stretch marks, freckles, acne , glasses, temporary tattoos, scratches, bruises, casts, mosquito bites and dirt stains.
While the response has been largely positive, there have been some who’ve hit back at the notion that this new ‘normal’ woman has been portrayed as rather plain and coming equipped with unfavourable body marks - not to mention the fact that the tagline ‘average’ is less than complimentary.
Lammily may indeed cause a controversial divide, but anything that promotes a healthy lifestyle and a more positive body image certainly gets a thumbs up from the Glossy Posse.