The pursuit of Barbie’s unattainable physique has manifested in several ways throughout the years. The allure of “real-life Barbie” has been a fascinating and controversial development. This article showcases some of the individuals who have garnered attention for their resemblance to the Barbie doll as well as individuals who have been able to transform their environment into Barbie’s world.
Nannette Hammond is a mother of five who resides in Cincinnati, USA, who has undergone multiple cosmetic surgeries totalling more than $500.000 to transform into a real-life Barbie doll (Abrahamson, 2016). Since her childhood, she has owned upwards of 50 Barbie dolls. She says “I loved playing with those Barbies. Growing Up, I felt shy and self-conscious about my looks and wanted to be just like the dolls” (Abrahamson, 2016).
Nannette Hammond on This Morning
This trend is not limited to America. In fact, in Ukraine, there is a phenomenon called the “Barbie Flu” (Grytsenko, 2013; Soldak, 2012). This phenomenon occurred in Odessa, where multiple girls started altering their image to look like Barbie (Gretsenko, 2013). Real-life Barbie dolls Valeriya Lukyanova and Olga Oleynik have also had multiple cosmetic surgeries to “balance the proportion with her hips because she is all about harmony and perfection” (Soldak, 2012).
Valeriya Lukyanova (Left) and Olga Oleynik (Right)
Besides looking like Barbie, there are also individuals who want to live in Barbie’s world. Take Bruna Carolina Peres, known as Bruna Barbie (Chiorando, 2023). She is a real-life Brazilian Barbie who is living in her dream house. Bruna says she has “always liked Barbie. Since I was a child I watched and admired the story. But it was in my teens that I decided to adopt the style. I love the colour pink and movies in a more preppy way” (Chiorando, 2023).
