The Woman Who Dressed Barbie

Meet Carol Spencer, an MCAD grad from Minneapolis who created some of the iconic blonde bombshell’s best looks.

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What’s a girl from contemporary St. Paul to do when she catches wind that a girl from 1950s Minneapolis designed clothes for Barbie? I tracked her down. Carol Spencer, 86, now lives in LA and was the pop culture icon’s longest-reigning fashion designer—and, perhaps, Barbie’s personal stylist. After a quick email exchange (including an email signature line that reads “Barbie love, Carol Spencer”), Ms. Spencer happily agreed to an interview. Her very modern tale includes stories of how she defied stereotypes of women in the 1950s and unapologetically chased an unconventional career as couturière of itsy-bitsy bikinis and pocket-sized pencil skirts at Mattel.

Following the death of her father when she was three years old, Carol Spencer, her mother, and her sister left their home in Texas and went to live with her aunt, uncle, and grandmother in Minneapolis. Growing up, she loved watching her grandmother sew. “My grandmother would warn me that if I came any closer, she’d stitch my nose to her pattern!” says Spencer. She eventually taught herself to sew and began designing pieces for herself and her paper dolls.

After graduating from Washburn High School in 1950, Spencer decided not to attend the University of Minnesota and instead took a job in the Sears catalog department office. “It was horrible,” she says. “But, hey, I needed a paycheck!”

At the time, all of her friends were becoming secretaries, teachers, nurses, or stay-at-home moms. She wasn’t particularly enamored with the idea of following in the footsteps of the typical young women of her era. Her fiancé's parents wanted her to continue working  to help pay for his medical school. “I wasn’t happy about being told what to do.” Unwilling to succumb to the idea of wearing the “Suzy Homemaker” badge, Spencer spoke up—and he broke off the engagement. “I dodged a bullet,” she says.  

With an added pep in her step, Spencer attended a seminar put on by Fashion Group International–Minneapolis/St. Paul and learned about the design program at the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts (now MCAD). She enrolled at the age of 18 and during her final year in college applied for a monthlong guest editor internship position in New York at Mademoiselle (a fashion magazine published from 1935–2001). Just weeks before receiving her diploma form MCAD, a telegram arrived at her doorstep notifying her that she had been accepted into the program (that same year, journalist Joan Didion was also accepted). Spencer skipped her commencement ceremony and hopped on a flight to the Big Apple. “It changed me forever,” she says.

Afterward, she returned home and held various positions within the booming apparel industry in the Twin Cities (and later, in Milwaukee), designing lingerie at Kickernick, clothing for a children’s wear company, and overalls—work bibs—at the Wonderall Company.

While in Milwaukee, she came across an advertisement in Women’s Wear Daily for a design position at Mattel (the toy manufacturer that had just released the Barbie doll). Spencer, who always dreamed of living in Los Angeles, eagerly applied.

Even though she didn’t hear a response, she packed up and headed west.  “There I was—a newly imported ‘country bumpkin’ from the upper Midwest,” she says. “I thought to myself, There’s no way manufacturers will hire me.” 

Mattel ran another ad for the design job. Spencer applied again, and this time she heard back. At the interview, she was handed a Barbie and asked to come back in two weeks with patterns and garments for the doll. Determined to be seen as someone who understood the California look of 1963, the budding designer created swimwear—two bathing suits, a sarong, and a cover-up. Charlotte Johnson, who ran the fashion department at Mattel at the time—and Spencer dubbed an extremely tough critic—saw potential in the designs. Spencer landed the job and spent the next 35 years designing wardrobes for Barbie and her posse—Skipper, Tutti, Todd, Stacie, and of course, Ken. Some of Spencer’s favorite designs include and ensemble for the Crisp and Cool doll inspired by Jackie Kennedy (also the first outfit of Spencer’s to be added to the collection in 1964), fashions for Barbie and Ken dolls influenced by Farrah Fawcett and Robert Redford in the ’70s (part of the Superstar Forever Collection), and a Flashdance-esque blue spandex leotard (complete with rainbow-bright striped leg warmers). The last one, designed in response to the exercise craze in the United States, appeared years later in Toy Story 3. In 1992, Spencer mimicked Emilio Pucci’s style and created a minidress for Totally Hair Barbie, Mattel’s best-selling doll to date.

Eventually, Spencer pushed for Mattel designers to receive bylines and presented an idea for the Classique Collection—dolls created to pay homage to Barbie’s stylists. At first, Mattel’s marketing team didn’t think Spencer’s name was unique enough and suggested she change it to something worldlier. Spencer’s reply: “If you don’t want to use my name, then don’t do the product.” Then she walked out. In the end, she won that battle—although she needed a microscope to read her name on the back of the box—and helped put other Mattel designers on the map.

Throughout her career, Spencer stayed on top of global fashion trends to ensure that her mini muse, Barbie (whom she calls the “original fashion influencer”), remained on the cutting edge. Whether traveling to Hong Kong, window shopping on Rodeo Drive, or perusing her own closet, Spencer was always seeking inspiration.

Spencer retired in 1998. That same year, Mattel created a Carol Spencer Barbie to commemorate her 35th anniversary as a Mattel designer. The collectible doll donned a pale pink suit—a miniature replica of what was considered to be Spencer’s most iconic look. “I still have the suit,” she says. “If only it still fit!” 

In 2017, she received the esteemed Women in Toys Emeritus Award, which  is currently displayed inside The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

Currrently residing in Westwood, California—in a house filled with glass cases  housing hundreds of Barbie dolls— she attributes much of her success to growing up in Minneapolis and attending MCAD. “I’ll always have my roots in Minnesota,” she says. Spencer, who has yet to marry, says she is still searching for her prince charming—her own life-sized Ken doll, perhaps?