Dress Me Up Like… Barbie and Ken! (by TearSong Vaughan)

We’re skipping around our “Dress Me Up” request list, this time to TearSong Vaughan’s “Barbie and Ken” suggestion! A few of the ideas we were given immediately started my brain sparking, and this vintage toy shoot was among them. Thanks so much for the fun concept, I had a blast!

Naturally, Barbie has far more accessories to choose from. I chose to do “Spotlight Barbie”, a gorgeous classic model from the the 1950’s, but it was no easy task achieving that kind of glamour. I went to both of my go-to vintage dress shops, Ivalde and Ingenue, and did a lot of thinking before selecting Betty Doyle’s “Begin the Beguine”. I could have gone with a long black gown and added the net bustle myself, but my heart really skipped a beat when I saw this dress, and I knew it was the one. The hair was my next challenge, but I stumbled upon a perfect blonde updo from Aoharu, a former group gift (yay!). To help mirror her outfit, I added a rose corsage, a pair of opera-length gloves from Fleur, and made a quick pink scarf in Barbie’s signature color. For jewelry, I chose the elegant stacked black pearl necklace from Paper Couture, and a pink and black cocktail ring to wear with drinks after her performance.

The original Ken came with little more than swim-trucks and a smile, and for me, there is no avatar who rocks this look better. Years ago, when all the guys were sporting badly-textured board shorts, my husband stumbled into Barnes’ Boutique and found the holy grail of men’s retro swimwear. Two years, a couple contest wins, and a few propositions later, they’re still fresh and still his favorite. He’s wearing Nylon Pinkney’s “Gamer Guy” skin, complete with Ken’s trademark painted-on hair. The sandals come complete with sculpted toes (tintable) and texture-change straps, and were a pretty amazing deal from J’s considering they were only L$280. The surfboard was a little more pricey, but it did come with animations and looked a thousand times better than any other I could find, and the hand towel is another great freebie from Bare Rose.

On Candy:
Skin: Rockberry – Lily in Light (POE Hunt Find)
Hair: Aoharu – Nikki in Milky Montblanc
Eyes: Miriel – The Iridescent Collection – Blue Opal
Dress: Ingenue – Begin the Beguine
Shoes: Storm Schmooz – Laque Platforms in Black
Gloves: Fleur – Long Leather Gloves in Black
Necklace: Paper Couture – Black Pearl Necklace
Ring: Barracuda – Reed Ring Rose
Corsage: Twisted and Spoiled – Twisted Rose Dress Pin (Lucky Chair Prize)
Barbie Scarf: Made by Me

On Van:
Skin and Hair: Nylon Pinkney – Gamer Guy Skin (In Your Library Folder)
Eyes: Miriel – The Jeweled Collection – Zircon
Swim Trunks: Barnes’ Boutique – Retro Hawaiian Swimming Trunks in Red
Sandals: J’s – Men’s Belt Sandals (Red Option)
Hand Towel: Bare Rose – Face Towel in White (Free!)
Surfboard: Namiko Surf Shop – Indigo Surfboard

For Slurls, see our Designer Locations page.