Dolls of Color

Stacey with 1st and 2nd Waves of So in Style dolls

doc – Hi Stacey, firstly thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to interview you.
smi – I also want to start off by thanking you! If I’m not mistaken, other than Essence.com your site was one of the first to post pictures and blog about my So In Style dolls.

doc – I would like to start off by firstly congratulating you on the sold out success of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Barbie (I have one, I LOVE HER!) and ongoing sales of the So In Style (from hereon to be referred to as SiS) dolls!
smi – Thank you! I really enjoyed creating the AKA Barbie for such a prominent group of women. Designing this doll actually gave me the extra push to start creating the SIS line of dolls.

doc – So, to start off this interview I would like to ask you about the original concept of the SiS dolls. How long ago did the idea of this doll line come up? What influenced you in the concept design stage of these dolls? Did your daughter influence your designs?
smi – The original concept of SIS was created on my summer vacation of 2007. I started writing the stories for the SIS characters. Three friends from H.S. That all had dreams and aspirations for themselves. Originally one of the dolls loved to mentor little girls in her community after school. After focus testing the dolls, moms really loved that aspect. This is when we chose to have all three dolls mentoring their lil sisters after school.
My daughter and other girls and women of color inspired me to create the SIS line, offering them more options for authentic fashion dolls. Although my daughter just turned 7 years old, I do run a lot of my designs by her. She’s the age that I’m trying to target out there!

So in Style logo

doc – Did you play with Barbie as a child? Did you have any Christie or earlier black Barbie dolls?
smi – I loved, loved, loved playing with my Barbie dolls as a child. Barbie actually inspired me into wanting to be a designer! I was a 70’s baby and was introduced the basic Barbie dolls since Christie was not on the market yet. There had been black Barbie’s in the past, but I didn’t have any.

doc – I love how you have the SiS dolls on twitter @soinstyle, they have such adorable and cheeky attitudes, those tiny ladies sure have lots of personality! Do you think they’ll be appearing in animations like Barbie in the future?
smi – That would be amazing for girls to share the same story backgrounds for the dolls that I share as I’m inspired to design for them. But because it’s a new line we’re not sure about the future of animations at this time. There needs to be a buzz created for the SIS girls to become animations.

doc – What fashion styles and influences did you work with in designing the outfits for the SiS dolls?
smi – The dolls stories help influence the styles of the dolls. Grace is in her cheerleading shorts and sweatshirt because she’s the preppy girl that loves drill team and science. Kara is wearing her music inspired jewelry and school girl fashions because she loves math and music. And Trichelle is wearing her paint splotched jeans that she decorated and a t-shirt with a cute little Japanese anime kitty. Trichelle is the fun and funky girl that loves art and journalism. So the fashion inspiration was me feeding off of the doll’s personalities. I also wanted to create a balance of wholesome fashions with a stylish edge.

doc – Initial words about these dolls hinted at new face moulds… what happened? Or did something get misinterpreted between the design team and marketing team? It would have been beyond awesome to have new faces!
smi – These dolls have new face moulds for the playline dolls. Collector Barbie has used the SIS mould, and I used the same for the AKA doll. I love the sculpt, and feel that it truly represents the beauty of African American features.

doc – Do you think the internet and webloggers have played a large role in getting the word out about the SiS dolls in comparison to the Shani line of dolls from the early 1990′s?
smi – I definitely think that times have changed since the early 90’s. Blogging has created home businesses for so many individuals. I feel like blogging and the internet is a great way of getting new product noticed, in hopes that it will benefit your product. I also feel that Mattel has learned from the past on how to market African American doll lines to their consumers.

doc – What do you think about the Shani line of dolls from the early 1990′s?
smi – I wished that the Shani line could have lived on for a longer time span and that it was more embraced. My SIS line is actually a Modern take on the Shani line, created by Kitty Black Perkins (long time African American Barbie designer that gave me my opportunity).

doc – Were you prepared for the controversies regarding the appearance of the SiS dolls? In particularly their hair. That seems to be the hottest issue amongst critics.
smi – I have noted that there is always going to be controversy when you’re trying to do good. With the initial line of SIS dolls, I chose to give the dolls long hair because that is one of the key features that I know little girls love to play with. My experience as a child, watching my daughter and her friends play, and our research team all agree with my decision. We are taking baby steps with what Mattel has chosen to help me promote, a line of positive African American dolls for little girls to play with. Collector Barbie dolls offer African American dolls with shorter, curlier hair if moms want that option for their daughters. With SIS, I did not want to limit the fantasy meets reality play that little girls want to experience with their dolls hair.

doc – How do you feel about children’s responses to the SiS dolls?
smi – I love the responses that I’m getting from children. My daughter is one of my biggest cheerleaders, she loves the dolls and what mommy is trying to do. In my community, I attended a 11yr. Old’s birthday party. The theme of her party was SIS. A SIS decorated cake, and SIS dolls were out of package, Stylin Hair dolls in particular. The older girls really enjoyed the experience of being able to curl the dolls hair and personalize them over and over again. One of the girls told me that she was going to start playing with Barbie again! This comment makes up for all of the controversy that had been generated. My passion behind SIS became real. I was able to inspire a girl to continue to create dreams and stories by wanting to play with Barbie again through my SIS dolls!

doc – Now I would like to ask you about the future of the SiS dolls.
smi – I would love to continue to grow the family and create new stories for the SIS line of dolls. The future depends on the market demand for SIS dolls.

doc – We have seen sneak pics of some Rocawear shots and there appears to be a new girl and a new boy. Would you be able to elaborate on them please?
smi – Yes, the dolls will be wearing Rocawear for Spring 2010. This is where we introduce Chandra our new girl, and Darren our boy character. In addition, Chandra will be sold in a giftset with her little sister Zahara. While still trying to create authentic beauty within the SIS line, Chandra is offered in a darker skin color than Kara. Chandra loves dance, and even writes and stars in her school plays. Darren is the cool guy on campus that’s a bit of a nerd. Sold separately for $7.99, Darren has a little brother named Julian.

doc – Will there be designer collectable versions of the SiS dolls?
smi – Not at this moment.

doc – Would there be more male characters in the SiS doll series?
smi – Not at this moment, Darren is going to enjoy being the only male on the SIS team for now.

doc – Is it possible for you to give us any sneak pictures of some upcoming designs for the SiS doll series?
smi – I am not at liberty to, but If you happen to come across them on someone’s website… : )

so I sort of did find some images on other websites…

image courtesy of *the internet*

If you are in the USA, these dolls are actually out already in some places! For some real life in package images of these dolls, check out cjstarz‘s S.I.S (RocaWear and More..) flickr set.

I’d finally got around to checking out Rocawear as well – they’ve got some very pretty dresses… *sigh* this is the reason why I avoid getting to know fashion labels I’m still clueless about because I usually end up liking and wanting everything lol

doc – Finally, I’d like to ask you some general questions about working as a doll designer.
What fields of study and training would you suggest to someone who wants to become a doll designer like you?
smi – The fields of study that I suggest are fashion design, or toy design. I studied fashion design, and that is where my passion lies as I’ve created for the 50 year old fashion icon for over 12 years now. I learned how to become a toy designer on the job. I would also recommend interning for fashion houses or toy design companies.

doc – I think you are the only Mattel designer active on twitter – do you think you can get Robert Best, Bill Greening and Linda Kyaw to jump online too?
smi – I’m on Twitter because of my passion for the SIS dolls. While tweeting, I loved connecting with people that wanted to know more about me and SIS.

doc – Lastly, do you prefer working with paints & inks or pencils and graphite?
smi – In creating dolls for mainline, I usually work with flat sketches in pencils for the patternmaker to follow. The Collector team specializes in glamorous illustrations.

doc – Once again, I thank you for creating the cool So in Style dolls and for taking this interview. Wish you the best for the future!
smi – No, thank you!

So there you have it! The answers and words from the lovely Ms McBride-Irby herself! Hope you enjoyed reading the interview and finding answers to whatever questions you might have as I sure did myself! I think I kicked something over when I read the name of Kitty Black Perkins

Tags: alpha kappa alpha, design, doll designers, interviews, kitty black perkins, shani and friends, so in style, stacey mcbride-irby

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Dolls of Color. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.