Sindy turns 60 this year, and at her peak had 80% of the UK’s ‘fashion doll’ market. What led to her cruel demise?
It is quite rightly incumbent upon us all to celebrate the life-affirming cinematic reinvigoration represented by the new Greta Gerwig movie. However, somewhere in all the hullabaloo, pinkness and Kenergy, a fundamental truth has been obscured by Barbie revisionism.
In a consumerist sense, Barbie is iconic, of course. She’s probably the most recognisable children’s toy in the world. With an estimated 100 dolls sold every minute and more than a billion dolls in circulation since her launch in 1959, Barbie clearly rules. But for many of us – by which I really mean British women born between the late 60s and early 80s – Barbie is not the true doll. No. The name of the true doll is Sindy.
