Barbie Does Bandage — Check out the Herve Leger by Max Azria Limited Collector’s Edition Barbie Doll
Five years ago, “it” girl Blake Lively wore a figure-hugging Herve Leger bandage dress on Season 2 of Gossip Girl — on the fourth episode, to be exact, in a scene where Lively’s character, Serena van der Woodsen, attempted to make ex-boyfriend Dan Humphrey jealous after becoming privy to his flirtations with the newest female Constance student, Amanda. The scene was enough to prompt a full-fledged bandage dress mania, with everyone from Jennifer Lopez to Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Kim Kardashian, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, and Victoria Beckham parading down the red carpet in an Herve Leger number. Now, apparently, Ms. Plastic Fantastic herself, Barbie, is vying for a fashion moment as memorable as the Gossip Girl one.
The new Herve Leger by Max Azria Limited Collector’s Edition Barbie Doll ($150 at herveleger.com) features a runway-ready brunette Barbie with a downtown edge and a wardrobe worth envying. Even the fashionista’s light brown hair is on trend: her mane secured into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck, a deep side part along the front, and a single braid right positioned at the crown, like a headband, running from one side of the head to the other. And, since Barbie needs to have fashion choices, she has two head-to-toe looks on hand: first, a red bandage dress with a removable black harness belt, black knee-high gladiator boots with high heels and gold-toned buckles, and a black envelope clutch with a studded top flap; and second, a black-and-white jacquard dress paired with strappy open-toed bootie sandals.
The red bandage dress is a riff of the Herve Leger Judith Bandage Dress, featuring broad straps along the shoulders, a square neckline, horizontal stitching to create the desired bandage-like look, and vertical stitching along the hips to streamline the female form. But it’s the corset harness that makes this first look feel so relevant since, after all, these played a huge role in the Helmut Newton-inspired BCBGMAXAZRIA Spring 2013 runway show. The miniature leather harness, then, encircles Barbie’s waist while the interwoven straps extend well past her hipline, the golden buckles adding a dominatrix-esque quality to the accessory. Her shoes are equally on trend since knee-high gladiator sandals have been a dominant footwear trend this year.
The second dress in Barbie’s bag of couture tricks is an exact replica of the Denisa Jagged-Pike Jacquard Dress ($1590 at HerveLeger.com), a cleavage-enhancing V-neck number with an all-over bondage appliqué and a graphic white pattern involving recurring spikes reminiscent of those you’d see in a pulse rate chart.
Not only are Barbie’s Herve Leger dresses rooted in real-life designs, but both were manufactured at the same factory where the real-life Herve Leger collection was created, making this even more of a collector’s item.
