Modest is Hottest!
This may be a little off topic, but I just had to share.
A couple years ago while surfing around Pinterest, I saw this idea and though genius! A mother, like myself who was sick of seeing unclad barbies lying around willy nillly, took a sharpie and well… here is the result.
We only had one barbie at the time, and call me a prude if you must, but you better believe I got my sharpie out and drew on that cute little suit. Well, I wasn’t totally happy with the results. Mine had pen marks and when I tried to go over the same spot it lifted off the first layer instead of darkening it. So, while it was better than nothing I still didn’t love it.
Fast forward a year or so. We now have more than one Barbie and I really wanted to fix the problem (which is my girls know how to take the clothes off, but not get them back on)… enter nail polish. That is when it hit me, I could not only cover up these immodest dolls, I could make it SUPER cute and totally colorful!
If you love this idea, please share it!!!
And of course I am going to show you how I did it…. (just in time for Christmas… yes, I just said the “C” word before Halloween, I am a rebel like that!) So I bought some brand new Disney princess dolls to demonstrate how easy this is.
Here they all are fresh out of the box, with their hair all pristine and their dresses still in place. Live it up girls, that is the last time you will look this good!!! (it only takes one tiny 2 year old to change that REALLY quickly!)
And about 3 minutes later…
Goodness, I love this little mini girl!!!
Okay, so the process is really easy. Just lift the doll’s arms out of the way and start with the top line. I usually do a sweetheart neck line in front, and carry the line diagonally down the side and joining it in the back, then just fill the body portion of the doll below. Move the legs as necessary, just watch out, because sometimes when you move the leg it will hit the body. You can do as many coats as you need, and you can re-coat as necessary. Also, if you mess up at all you can remove the spot with some remover on a q-tip.
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Between coats, they can practice a little yoga in the sunlight as they dry out.
Give them a good hour to cure, if you do more than one coat, you don’t want ugly smudges! The best part is all the color choices you have! And this is what you get front and back:
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Hey everyone! It looks like a MODEST pool party on the roof of the Barbie Dream house!
So what do you think? So excited about having modest Barbies around in between outfit changes! If you like this idea please share it! Thanks guys!
EDIT: So apparently people are ticked that I painted nail polish bathing suits on my barbies… so here is my response. I should explain that it is hard for me to express this without being passionate after the lash out that I have received in the last couple days. So forgive me for my somewhat passionate and defensive response.
Cassity Kmetzsch started Remodelaholic after graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Interior Design. Remodelaholic is the place to share her love for knocking out walls, and building everything back up again to not only add function but beauty to her home. Together with her husband Justin, they have remodeled 6 homes and are working on a seventh. She is a mother of four amazing girls. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.
I LOVE this idea.
I was looking for a way to do this, and fingernail polish is brilliant!
I had tried it with acrylics and it was too “spotty.”
Haters gonna hate.
It’s their issue, not yours.
Just keep on being a great mom and do what feels right for your child.
Thanks!
Its a great idea!!
Just have a question, how do you remove or clean, when a drop goes off or drop on a leg or face?
You can use nail polish remover, or rubbing alcohol would probably work too — you’d just have to be careful of the painted-on face. I was mostly just really really careful 🙂
I LOVE this! I feel exactly the same as you! Plus I have sons in the house, and a recovering sex-addict (porn addict) spouse. We teach and talk about things healthily, but don’t need nude dolls laying around! I didn’t like the Sharpie either! Love that I found this!
I love your response to the negative comments about your post. Keep up the good work.
I’m so glad I found this idea. I’m a grandma now. I’ll definitely use this on the barbies I give my granddaughters. Also going to share it with my daughters. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you. As a dad of two girls I appreciate it. Don’t forget about Ken. Nothing like your 5 year old laughing at his “bobo” aka butt. I was looking for a project she could do. She loves superhero girls. I came across your article. We try to teach our girls to be strong and independent with good values. It aint easy, but worth it.
In response to those who say giving Barbie under garments is going to harm your child’s self-image: “Barbie,” style dolls with her unrealistic proportions is the LAST tool you’d want toI use to promote a healthy body image and self-acceptance! Who could ever measure up!??
If you prefer not to have naked Barbies around your house, then bravo for you for coming up with a solution! I have also given barbies in my classroom some underclothes.
What a great idea! I am putting several Barbies in Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes and was looking online to find panties for the dolls. Now I can give them some very pretty panties 🙂
I love this idea and am definitely giving our dolls a makeover. Love your humor in the post as well!
This is fantastic. My daughter wants a mermaid barbie and I can’t find a modest one I’m happy with so I’m going to add a little nail polish to cover her up a bit more. Brilliant!! What a great post, great humor, way to address the issue that has always bugged me and bravo for standing up to those haters. Love this!
Thank you, Emily!
I love this idea. My 4yo grandson recently was playing with a friend and they were fighting over one Barbie doll. My husband handed another doll to my grandson and said – ‘here-play with this one’ to which my grandson replied ‘but she doesn’t have any clothes on, Pap! Can you put some clothes on her?’ (They were fighting over the doll that was dressed.) My husband looked at me and said, ‘Would you please paint some clothes on those Barbies?’ As an artist, I am really looking forward to this!
As a side note, I asked my grandson why they were fighting over the doll in the first place and his response was ‘we can’t go outside to chase monsters with no pants on!’ This is not about body-shaming or anything else – it is about being prepared to go outside and chase monsters with the appropriate attire. I wonder if Barbie can chase monsters in heels?
I think if Jurassic Park is any proof of being able to outrun monsters in heels, then yes. Yes Barbie can fight monsters in heels. I prefer flip flops personally! Thanks for this wonderful comment!
I LOVE THIS!! My question is… will the nail polish hold up in water. Our barbies, princesses, and all sorts of dolls go swimming often in the summer. I had not really thought anything of the naked barbies until my 3 year old always had a few everywhere we went. While she is a little girl and it’s just a Barbie with no clothes on, it was brought to my attention the other day in target that a certain age of little boys find the barbies (um well Boobs) exposed skin to be funny and are naturally curious. So I need a way to cover the barbies when going out into public 🙂
How many years later is this, and I stumble upon this. This post is epic! I am sorry for all the hurtful comments you received, and so I just wanted to say thank you for posting. Even after all these years, your post is valuable. While I don’t think I will do this as I am probably going to make them undies, if I could not sew or didn’t want to, I would do this in a heart beat. Barbies have only been in our home for a month. Most of that time they have been naked. I have zero issues about nudity, other than I am trying to teach my daughter to keep her private parts private. What better than through play?!
I have been using nail polish on my granddaughter’s Barbies for a couple of years now. It’s not a sexual hangup. They just look sloppy. The nail polish swimsuits are perfect plus they make swim time much easier when you only have two actual swimsuits. Now they can all join in the fun!
Awesome! Just what I needed!
I’m no mother but I have several barbie models that I use to display miniature versions of my fashion designs and to test how different colours and designs look.
The boys have always given me grief but this solves half my problems!
So many thanks for being more of a genius than I.
I am so glad there are people that still believe in morals. Feminists and lefters nowadays get SO worked up over everything including cartoons and toys, kid things. They don’t actually care about the kids, they just care about their opinions. To them apparently it is powerful for a woman to be nasty and exhibitionist Remember I am an Athiest but I appreciate morals deeply.
I gathered up 14 Barbies from my grandkids stash at my house and painted 12 with nail polish and 2 with Sharpies. Then I painted all of their ‘swimsuits’ with Mod Podge.
I hope that works. I appreciate your post about modesty.
I LOVE this idea!! I too am sick of seeing naked barbies all over my house! And my girls love that they now have swimming suits! Thank you for sharing!
I’m with you! I love chastity in single and married people! I’m painting our doll tomorrow!!!
I totally love the idea of nail polish suits. I am always uncomfortable with little girls and boys watching naked adult doll bodies. They are different from you younger kids.
Thank for such a clever idea. You don’t need to explained your beliefs.
I’m a Grandma, and I have hated naked Barbies for 40 years, so I’m glad I don’t have to put up with it anymore. These are my answers to haters: 1) Barbie doesn’t represent any average woman’s body; if you want to help your daughter develop a healthy body image, DO NOT let them play with Barbies. 2) Okay, so I’m a prude, so what? I also don’t like cardboard blocks thrown in a pile. I put them away in a particular order. To each their own. 3) My final answer is, don’t you have anything better to do than critique other people’s lives?