USPS Celebrates Barbie® with 10 New Stamp Designs
These new stamps spotlight era-appropriate Barbie dolls dressed for 10 iconic careers
Mattel’s 1959 introduction of Barbie® was groundbreaking, representing a modern view of womanhood in the mid-20th century, just as a world of career possibilities was opening up for women.
For generations, Barbie has been a symbol of limitless possibilities. Introduced as “The Original Teenage Fashion Model,” Barbie quickly evolved into much more.
“I had no idea the breadth of the Barbie doll’s career journey,” says USPS Art director Ethel Kessler, who worked hand in hand with Mattel to develop the design of the stamps, marveling at the scope of career achievements. “The variety is inspiring, and it has been pretty amazing to bring these stamps to life with the Mattel team,” she says. After exploring countless options, the stamps were narrowed down to the final 10, capturing the versatility of Barbie careers.
In 1961, Barbie stepped into an early professional role as a registered nurse, wearing a white cotton nurse’s uniform with a graduate nurse’s cap, a blue cape, and era-appropriate “cat-eye” glasses.
In 1985, a popular advertising jingle proudly proclaimed, “We girls can do anything!” and Barbie was ready to prove it. The message — broadcast to millions of Gen X and Millennial kids — reflected the times of increasing female representation in the workforce, with new opportunities for women to succeed in more fields than ever before.
The famous Day-to-Night Barbie of the 1980s was a corporate leader, wearing the shoulder-padded power suit of the day — in the signature color, “Barbie Pink.” But the doll’s executive career actually began two decades earlier, signaled by a chic tweed suit, in 1963.
When Barbie became a surgeon in 1973, American women comprised less than three percent of American surgeons; today they account for about one in four. The Barbie on the stamp is equipped with a stethoscope and is garbed in light blue scrubs, mask, and a surgical cap.
In 1995, when Barbie took on the role of firefighter, only about two percent of firefighters were women; today that figure is closer to 10 percent. The doll’s turnout gear consists of a yellow helmet, jacket, and pants, and a white “Barbie Fire Rescue 1” T-shirt.
The Barbie “I Can Be…” careers line, launched in 2010, focuses a bright spotlight on a wide range of occupations. The “Career of the Year” series highlights livelihoods with glass-ceiling-shattering potential for women, including a judge and a robotics engineer.
Kessler says that she and the Mattel team approached the project “with a spirit of fun,” using bright, energetic shades associated with the brand — predominantly the famous “Barbie Pink” — to evoke a feeling of joy.
To best showcase the career attire, they selected a rarely-used stamp format, no wider than the usual vertical commemorative stamp, but a third taller. This very vertical format was last used in 2014.
In 65-plus years as an icon, Barbie has invited kids into a world of imaginative play, empowering generations to believe you can be anything. From paleontologist to soccer player, sign language teacher to music star, Barbie fans can dream big and explore a huge range of career possibilities. Today, Barbie continues to inspire the limitless potential in every girl.
