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.
So you’re teaching your daughter that skin tight clothing and stuff that looks like latex, often used for S&M purposes, is what she should wear? Or that she should be a never nude (ala Tobias Funke)?
These dolls don’t have nipples or vaginas. Seriously, who cares?
<–feels sorry for your children.
This is just brilliant. We have lots and lots of Barbies. I love this idea. You know there is always going to be someone that doesn’t share the same opinion as you and can hide themselves through the internet. They will say something, that they would never dare say to your face. I believe in modesty and teach that to my daughter also. Modesty doesn’t mean you are ashamed of naked bodies at all. Great idea. Kudos to you again!
You rock! The naked barbie thing has often made me feel uncomfortable and I never thought of this clever idea. Thank you! And I agree with you about teaching modesty – it’s not barbie’s job, it’s ours.
I love this idea, my biggest problem with barbies and dolls is that they are left laying around naked. Naked dolls don’t teach kids anything, but you are teaching your girls something important. Some people just don’t get it, I do and I commend you for it and for sharing your brilliant idea with the rest of us! Thank you!
Apparently this issue has come up before because Mattel started producing Barbies with underwear molded on.
Good grief! Talk about over thinking it, people! I’m not ashamed of my body, but…I still wear clothes around other people! I think even painting little bras and panties on them would be cute. That way when the barbies go to the store or to work, they can do so with a little clothes on!
If our girls are curious about naked bodies they can look at their own, or ask about ours! I agree with you…we aren’t relying on dolls to teach them about themselves, any more than we would expect them to learn about animals solely from their stuffed animals.
I’m sorry you got some heat from this, keep on keeping on!
I just found this on Pinterest and immediately pinned it. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! I have actually had a barbie foot stab me in the eye when I taking a wet bathing suit off it!
As for the modesty issue I completely agree with you. Dolls are a teaching tool that help enhance what we teach our girls; if I don’t want my daughter to visit her friends naked, watch t.v. naked, or go to church naked then why should her dolls. 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
I think this is a great idea. I get tired of naked barbies all over my house too. They look cute!
Been meaning to do this with the Barbie my daughter got for Christmas. Thanks for the encouragement!
I am so doing this!!! Love it!!
Thank you for this. I hate naked dolls period, nothing about being prude it just gets on my nerves. I tried the sharpie & rubbed off. Never thought about bail polish yep on my to do list! Some people troll the internet just to be negative. You shouldn’t feel the need to justify why hou feel this way!
I’m SO glad you shared this tip! LOVE their cute “swim suits.”
This idea is fantastic! I think it teaches modesty intead of shame! Good lawd….I’ve got so many dolls to paint!! Your response to the blog trolls is spot on. Thanks for sharing!
Mattel ought to hire you!
We are so excited about this. My sons hate the naked Barbies and they are always scolding their sister for leaving them in the bathtub.
What an awesomely cute idea! Thanks for posting it. I’m so sorry people had to leave nasty judgmental comments! There are people everywhere you like to make life unpleasant. We just have to smile and love them anyway!
Love the idea!! I hate naked barbies!! Matel should clue in and just make them covered.
Love this! Kids are going to be kids, no matter what we talk to them about. The little fairy dolls come with painted on bodices, but our current problem is the girls scratching off the paint to see if there are nipples underneath… and yes. We’ve talked to them about it. Looks like this will be perfect to paint their modesty back on. Haha!
I think this is the most awesome thing I’ve seen in years. I grew up with lots of Barbie dolls and baby dolls, and although mine weren’t always “nekkid” (LOL), they had their fare share of nail polish painted on them, abstractly. LOL I’ve had this pinned on my Pinterest board for a while, but I’m sharing with my FB page. 🙂 Great article!!!
I have no idea why everyone was getting bent out of shape over this. I am a super feminist, borderline nudist, who doesn’t believe in abstinence before marriage and has no intention of teaching it my children… and you know what, I’m still ridiculously tired of all the naked Barbies laying all over my house.
These suits are adorable and are happening to each of ours this afternoon. Thank you.