Barbie and socialist dolls

I really dislike Barbie, so it wasn’t my intention to include one in my doll collection. I have seen this one in a second hand store and ignored it, even if I realized it’s an old one. But after some time, when I visited the store again and Barbie was still there (for less than 1 euro) I decided to buy her. The dress is pretty, maybe I would sell her, etc… But coming home and looking at her next to her socialist colleagues from more or less the same era was so funny, that I decided to keep her.
She is a Francie doll, made in 1966. The dress is a model called Movie Date and was produced between 1962-1963.
Every time I take her out from the box where I keep her, I cough; some sort of chemical process in her hair or body gives me an allergic reaction.

The two bigger dolls from the group shot belonged to my mother in the mid fifties. The smaller plastic one in the red tunic is a bit newer, from the sixties, so she is Barbie’s contemporary. My mother’s dolls have composition heads and cloth bodies, with their limbs jointed with metal parts. They have serious faces of responsible women and body proportions that are more realistic, even if their bodies are simplified and rudimentary. The way they were constructed is visible, with the metal hooks and visible stitches and all. Poor Barbie has also visible parts of her construction (the metal inside her bendable legs rusted and the plastic broke). Her face aged in a yellow tone, while the plastic of her body is more pinkish, and this also adds to her unhealthy look.

She hangs out now with the socialist dolls and they discuss gender politics :).

Linking up with Thrifter Share and Thriftasaurus.