Puerto Rican Barbie 1996

Join Puerto Rican Barbie on her tour through the picturesque streets of Old San Juan on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico while she enjoys a tasty, sweet and very cold piragua.

“En mi viejo San Juan cuántos años forjé en mis noches de infancia…” Those are the first verses of the song written by the Puerto Rican composer and singer Noel Estrada, a song that is capable of awakening in the boricua heart the most vivid feeling of nostalgia. The song titled “En Mi Viejo San Juan” (In My Old San Juan) became the national anthem for many Puerto Ricans who live far from their homeland and long to one day return to their beloved island of Borinquen, Puerto Rico. The Old San Juan is a symbol of that longing since its 16th century walls enclose stories of love, courage, valor, and struggle, everything that Puerto Ricans are made of. This historic district in the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, is characterized by its picturesque streets with colorful houses and buildings of colonial Spanish architecture that take us back in time as we walk on blue and gray cobblestones, history that sometimes goes unnoticed under our feet. But just as many depart from their ports, many others arrive at them! Old San Juan is known worldwide! Nearly 500 cruise ships arrive in its bay during the year with thousands and thousands of tourists who come to participate in the famous San Sebastian Street Festival, to enjoy the warm Caribbean climate, to savor our delicious typical food or cool off with a piragua, a cone-shaped shaved ice topped with fruit syrup!

As a proud Puerto Rican of my history, my people and my national symbols, it fills me with satisfaction that Mattel has created a Puerto Rican Barbie. This beautiful Barbie doll, made in 1996 in Malaysia, captures the essence of the Puerto Rican jíbara woman with her clothing influenced by Spanish and African culture. Puerto Rican Barbie is a Collector Edition that is part of Dolls of the World Collection and it’s doll #16754 from Mattel. This Barbie doll comes in a box with designs alluding to Puerto Rican culture and on its back is written a brief review of the History of Puerto Rico, its climate and topography, its flora and fauna, its typical food and clothing, and its official language which is Spanish. Puerto Rican Barbie, like all the dolls in this collection, comes with a nice stand that includes a sticker with her name with a small illustration of the Puerto Rican flag.

I have named my Puerto Rican Barbie “Dayanara,” in honor of one of our five Puerto Rican Miss Universe. Dayanara Torres, representative of the town of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, won the crown of the Miss Universe pageant in 1993, and although our beloved beauty queen has the most beautiful blue eyes, this Barbie doll with Teresa face mold looks a lot like her in the structure of her face. However, her white lace dress served as inspiration for the dress worn by the gorgeous Joyce Giraud during the Miss Universe National Costume Competition in 1998, who represented our island with an outstanding participation, occupying the position of second runner-up the final night of the Miss Universe pageant. As you can see, Puerto Rico is full of beautiful and very intelligent women, capable of standing out before the universe, putting the name of Puerto Rico on high.

Puerto Rican Barbie has beautiful dark brown hair, amber eyes, and a slightly tan “skin” tone. I think they wanted to show in her the characteristic physical traits common to most Puerto Ricans, those that resulted from the mixture of the three races: Taino, Spanish, and African. Her pretty amber eyes are made up with a light eyeshadow like sugarcane melao and her lips like pink hibiscus flower. The Teresa face mold is perfect for Puerto Rican Barbie, a face mold used in the 90’s for Barbie’s Hispanic friend doll.

Puerto Rican Barbie’s delicate Spanish-style white dress is inspired by the Puerto Rican plena dance, an urban musical genre with African roots created by the Puerto Rican working class at the beginning of the 20th century. This typical dress for the Puerto Rican working woman of that time was characterized by its wide, ankle-length skirt that could be grasped with the hands at its ends and extended to form a half moon. This skirt has several ruffles delimited by frills made with lace, embroidery, or some type of print. In the case of the Puerto Rican Barbie, the frills with lace also have bright pink thread embroidery that simulates a ribbon. The upper part of the dress, known as the camisole, has a ruffled neckline and short puff sleeves that are also embellished with lace trim and the same embroidery as the skirt. At the waist is a bright pink ribbon with several flowers on the front. To complete her jíbara outfit, Puerto Rican Barbie wears what looks like a pink hibiscus flower with ribbon on her head, white hoop earrings and ring, as well as white heels. She also brings a hairbrush. Puerto Rican Barbie looks like one of the white doves that flutter around the beautiful and colorful Old San Juan!