Ken counts on a make-over to win back Barbie
By Nina Goswami
(Filed: 23/10/2005)
They broke up after 43 years together citing irreconcilable differences. Now, after a mere 18 months apart, Ken wants Barbie back.
What's more he is prepared to make the effort to change. He will unveil a new look early next year and his spokesman at the manufacturers Mattel promises a radical, highly secret, rethink.
Ken's looks through the decades
Ken's looks through the decades
In the 1970s this plastic doll's masculine Elvis Presley look made Barbie's plastic heart skip a beat. But more than four decades on, Ken's metrosexual blonde beach boy image helped to lead the love of his life to dump him for an Australian surfer called Blaine. Mattell stopped promoting the two together and Ken was pushed to the back of the toy shop shelves.
Russell Arons, the doll's personal manager and publicist, admits that Ken "has been in conversation" with some of Britain's and Hollywood's celebrity stylists in an attempt to win Barbie back. "A make-over may be just what Ken needs," said Ms Arons, the vice-president of marketing at Mattel.
A company insider said: "For far too long Blaine has been basking in Ken's limelight. Ken's fans should expect big changes next spring and Blaine should be ready for a fight if he wants to keep Barbie."
Ken, who has been 23 for 45 years, admits that he has had plastic surgery to "re-sculpt his face" and has not ruled out another operation.
He told The Sunday Telegraph, through a statement from Mattel: "My new look will be something very now. My style will reflect my personality and will change with my mood on any given day." The British stylist Kenny Ho, who has advised David Beckham and Pierce Brosnan, said Ken needed to go "slick and urban" to win back Barbie, and be less of a fashion victim.
"Ken needs to look effortless and cool without trying too hard. I'm sure Barbie would appreciate a man who spends less time in the bathroom than she does and wouldn't upstage her on a night out. He should go for slim-fitting shirts, low V-neck knitwear, straight-cut, flat-front trousers, single-breasted jackets and military-inspired coats."
Hollywood stylist Phillip Bloch, whose clients include Nicole Kidman, feels that Ken needs to move with the times. "Ken is one of those guys who has too much of one style. You have to be able to change it up - be able to go from Oscars to Emmys to hanging out with friends," Mr Bloch said.
Lou Ford, the deputy editor of the women's magazine Cosmopolitan, said Ken had no chance of getting Barbie back looking like "George Michael from the 1980s".
"Ken looks gay. His body and face are good but he is too groomed," said Miss Ford. "Women today like their men to be in touch with their feminine side and take pride in their appearance. But they still want them to be masculine."
Ken found fame at the 1961 American International Toy Fair. Later that year he met Barbie on the set of a television commercial. Ken's image started to slip in the 1990s as he became a businessman, baseball player, explorer and rock star.
Ken said: "Time apart has helped me to realise what's important. Barbie is the love of my life." Barbie was not available for comment but a close friend said: "She's curious as to how Ken will change his look. Whether it will make her want him back, we'll have to wait and see."
7 October 2004: Brash Bratz elbow Barbie out of the charts
Related links
Doll-on-doll action?
http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht.../23/wken23.xml
I still can't believe it was on the news.
