8 Things You Never Knew About Barbie’s Wardrobe, According to the People Who Dress Her (Exclusive)

Barbie may have one of the most epic wardrobes. As always.

After 65 years of life – and hundreds of different dolls and thousands of outfits created – it makes sense for Barbie’s wardrobe to be absolutely massive. The style of the iconic doll comes to life on the Barbie Style Instagram, which has more than 2.8 million followers and shows Barbie as a true influencer. Here she shows off her wonderful life, including her travels, her hobbies, her dog Honey, her dream house and more.

But Barbie can’t do everything alone. It takes a village to bring Barbie style to life, and it’s managed by Rachel Ritter, Barbie’s stylist (who literally dresses Barbie every day for a living) and Zlatan Kusnoor, creative director (who also literally plays with Barbie every day for a living).

PEOPLE spoke with the two to get the inside scoop on what goes into dressing Barbie for Instagram, how the shoot comes together, and all the other details you might not know about your favorite doll.

Barbies who went to the 2024 Grammy Awards.

Mattel Inc.

Barbie likes to combine modern and vintage

Like many of us, Barbie loves to mix and match her pieces (as does Ritter). Always a fan of music, Barbie went to the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala and Grammy Awards in two beautiful looks and it was a combination of old and new pieces.

“The doll on the left (above) went to the Clive Davis gala and it’s a really fun look because it’s a really good example of what I like to do in a Barbie wardrobe,” explains Ritter. “I’m pairing vintage with new Barbie pieces. It’s the original Francie look from the modern era. It was stockings with a matching dress. It was originally a long-sleeved dress with a faux turtleneck. I wanted to change it up, so I made it strapless and added a faux fur scarf, which is a Barbie product. It’s a fun example of how clothes are put together from different sources.”

For the red carpet at the awards show itself, Barbie chose a more glamorous approach, wearing a black and pink deconstructed dress with a sweetheart neckline that was made just for her. Like many celebrities on the red carpet, she had a couture dress made especially for her big moment.

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Rachel Ritter, Barbie Stylist, and Zlatan Kusnoor, Creative Director of Barbie Style.

Mattel Inc.

Barbie is a woman of the people

Barbie: She’s just like us! Part of her evolution as a doll over the years has included adding more hair textures and skin tones, giving her different body types and making her a more inclusive doll. This also applies to her activity on social networks.

So when COVID-19 hit and the world was shut down at home, Barbie did what the rest of us did. She also wore pillows as dresses, socially distanced herself and rocked the stay-at-home vibe.

“Barbie was at home a lot,” says Kusnoor. “We actually filmed a lot of it in my kitchen and no one would know.”

Barbie loves to create content in her dream house — and with friends

Not only does Barbie have a Dream House on set, but she likes to stage all kinds of scenes there. Kusnoor has a team he works with to film these, and they also use this set for stop-motion videos (which can take days to create!).

The beauty of Dreamhouse is that it means Barbie can even collaborate with interior design brands on shoots, which she recently did. For the shoot, Barbie teamed up with Jungalow, whom Ritter and Kusnoor love for their maximalism and beautiful patterns.

Kusnoor worked with the team on the design of the house, while Ritter worked with the team on what the doll would wear, and both tell PEOPLE it was a quick process that was a lot of fun.

“We remodeled the entire space in Barb’s house,” explains Kusnoor. “We go from minimalist to maximalist. It was heaven. I could have stayed on that set for a week to shoot all kinds of content.”

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Inside Barbie’s closet.

Mattel Inc.

The team shoots for a week every month

Barbie may look very busy on Instagram, but like any influencer, she packs all of her photos into a small time frame. Ritter explains how the process works, and it all starts with building her inspiration. She considers what she might want Barbie to do in the coming weeks and compiles a to-do list. It depends on what evergreen needs they have, upcoming events, if Barbie has to go on location, etc.

“We shoot for about a week every month,” she says. “So we shoot for about four or five days and that usually gives us about a month of content that comes out at different times. I’ll do about a week of prep in [the closet]. I’ll have my shoot list and I’ll just go into town and come up with a collection of looks.”

A look at Barbie options for an upcoming event.

Mattel Inc.

Some layouts are unique

Ritter likes to take Barbie clothes and transform them into something else to create a one-of-a-kind piece for an unforgettable Instagram photo. He has a sewing machine in his studio that he can use as needed, but that’s not the only way he can make alterations.

“Sometimes I’ll change a piece if it needs to be a little different for that photo. Sometimes I hand-dye a small piece of fabric to change the color,” she tells PEOPLE.

However, when it comes to vintage pieces, Ritter tries not to mess with them, although she will change them from time to time as she sees fit.

“I don’t cut them or change them, but sometimes I do a little modification. But don’t tell some collectors,” he jokes.

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Barbie’s clothes are sorted by type.

Mattel Inc.

The styling team sources pieces from collectors

Ritter and Kusnoor will often go to doll conventions to get vintage Barbie clothes and accessories for the Barbie wardrobe. Ritter says she’s always inspired by current events, the latest fashion and everything around her, which means she’s constantly looking for new pieces to add to Barbie’s wardrobe, and sometimes that means looking back at what the doll wore decades ago.

However, she and Kusnoor have different shopping styles when it comes to Barbie!

Barbie jewelry.

Mattel Inc.

“I’m at every stand and I look through the whole bin,” Ritter says with a laugh, while Kusnoor admits he buys a lot faster. But they both enjoy digging through vintage Barbie pieces and meeting collectors – from whom they learn more and more about who they are.

“I’ve been around for a while,” admits Kusnoor of his tenure at Mattel. “The thing with Barbie fans and collectors is that they’re really, really amazing. When they know you work for Barbie, they want to know everything about you. So at this point I’ve gone to a lot of Barbie collector conventions so they know who you are and they’re very, very dear. They always come up to you. It’s really, really fun.”

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Barbie enters the Barbie closet.

Mattel Inc.

The Barbie archive is available for the styling team to use (and then restore)

Of course, Mattel has a huge Barbie archive. The creative teams have access to the Barbies and accessories in the archives when they need them for specific things — including if Ritter needs a piece for a shoot.

“Our archive team has collected everything over the years, so occasionally we can borrow parts. Obviously, I can’t change them — they go back to the archive team — but sometimes we’ll borrow things for certain shoots,” Ritter tells PEOPLE.

Barbie travels to each location for photo shoots

When you see Barbie in places like Paris or Montreal, Canada, or on the red carpet at the Oscars, she’s really there. The creative team does not photograph her or her friends in front of the green screen. They pack her and all her clothes in a suitcase and take her to the place.

“Travels for Barbie on Barbiestyle have always been a part of the channel,” says Kusnoor, who often travels for shoots. “It’s been part of the channel’s DNA since day one. It’s always been about being a fun place, very ambitious, cool, and we’ve really stuck to that.”

Kusnoor adds that when you see Barbie at Fashion Week or cross the street in Milan, she is truly there. A small team takes everyone on location and sets up those shots, whether they’re in restaurants or stadiums or fancy buildings they’ve been given access to.

For something like an award show red carpet, the photographer will take a shot of the doll and the background and with the magic of photo editing and forced perspective, she will appear life-sized in the scene.

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Source: HIS Education