Barbie, who? Kylie Jenner launches herself as a Bratz doll
By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN
(CNN) — Move over, Barbara Millicent Roberts, because it seems the world of pop culture is big “kenough” for another viral doll moment. After weeks in the spotlight, Barbie’s publicity is getting some competition from her bad-girl rivals at Bratz, which has announced a new partnership with Kylie Jenner.
The limited-time Mini Bratz x Kylie Jenner collection, which dropped on Tuesday, is the first time a celebrity has been transformed into one of the dolls, which became a mainstay in the 2000s thanks to their ostentatious alt styling, exaggerated features and inclusive skin tones — reportedly grossing $2 billion in sales from 2001 to 2006, the first five years in which they were on market.
The new capsule collection offers up a “Bratzified” Jenner in six different famous looks, including both the lavender feathered Versace mermaid gown she wore to the 2019 Met Gala and the veiled all-white Off-White ensemble she debuted at the same event three years later. In a press release, Bratz manufacturer MGA Entertainment promised the release of a “full line” of Kylie dolls in the coming weeks.
With Bratz dolls uplifting the feline-eyed, full-lipped, high-cheekboned “Instagram-face” into a beauty standard — and an aesthetic that Jenner and her family have codified — before Instagram was even a twinkle, it’s unsurprising that Jenner has gone full uncanny valley by becoming the doll to which she’s sometimes drawn comparisons.
“I have been a fan of Bratz since childhood and I’ve always wanted my own Bratz doll,” Jenner said in a press statement, adding that she has, “loved every step of the process this past year in creating these dolls alongside the Bratz team.”
Bratz creative director Jasmin Larian said that Jenner “truly embodies everything Bratz has stood for since its inception 22 years ago — from being disruptive and rebellious to energetic and expressive.”
But not all Bratz fans were happy, with some social media commenters questioning the choice of Jenner as the doll brand’s first celebrity collaborator — and whether the new line accurately represents her skin tone. “Kylie is not that damn dark,” one person wrote in a viral tweet with a photo of one of the dolls. (Another, in perhaps a less serious quibble, questioned the accuracy of an accessory meant to resemble Jenner’s pet dog.)
CNN reached out to MGA Entertainment for a response to these criticisms, but a spokesperson for the toy company declined to comment.
Jenner, meanwhile, has already gifted her own collection to her daughter Stormi, posting to her Instagram stories a video of the five-year-old girl playing with the small figurines. “Had to get Storm all the minis,” she wrote.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
