Parents Outraged Over New 'Busty Barbie'

One little black dress just isn’t enough for Barbie.

Mattel’s tiny plastic fashionista is back with a good dozen versions of the classic party garment in the company’s “Barbie Basics” collection. She’s stylish. She‘s full-figured. Her neckline is plunging. Parents are not happy.

Barbie, routinely criticized for her ample cleavage and generally unrealistic shape, is allegedly more well-endowed than ever, StyleList reports, and the new No. 10 doll in the “Basics” line is practically falling out of her dress.

One such angry mother is Andie Whitaker, of Minnesota, who told MSNBC she was concerned that such dolls would give her daughter unhealthy ideas about style and body image.

“I don’t want her to think she has to be this, you know, busty Barbie who’s constantly wearing heels and these low-cut shirts,” Whitaker said.

One blogger on OpenSalon.com complained that the doll “appears surgically enhanced.” Complicating the situation is the fact that the series is multiracial, and No. 10 just happens to be black.

However, the controversial doll, and the others in the “Barbie Basics” series, was never intended for children. It is marketed through Mattel’s “Barbie Collector” site and clearly labeled “For the adult collector.” Fashion design for dolls is big business, and Mattel is technically one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturers, according to CNN.

The company has a long history of producing limited-edition fashion dolls aimed at women, not young girls, including the “world’s most expensive Barbie,” the “Canturi Barbie,” which debuted in Australia along with the “Barbie Basics” collection at the beginning of May. That doll boasts pink diamond accessories designed by Stefano Canturi, renowned for his Cubist red-carpet designs, and carries a walloping $545,000 price tag.