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.
I just found your idea…I LOVE YOU, YOUR MY HERO! I’m a Mom of 3 girls and 2 boys, now grown with children of their own. I have seen more than my fair share of naked Barbies, Ken, G.I.Joe. Soon as I finish telling you how WONDERFUL you are, I’m getting out the nail polish and having a swimsuit, yoga party. Thanks, your the BEST!
Thanks, Jodi!
What is crazy cool about this post is that I won’t have to stick those little hands through those tiny sleeves! They will be fully dressed and without clothes! Awesome.
Though I have decided to ban Barbie from my house (Naked Barbie being one of many reasons), I think you have posted a great idea. I found this blog while searching for modest dolls for my daughter. This can be applied to any type of doll. Thank you for sharing, I’ll have to stock up on the nail polish! 🙂
I think your Barbie hack is a great idea. Forget the Barbie being nude and what that means to other people. It is simply cute and fun. I love the idea and I’m going to do this with my daughters Barbie’s. Sometimes a mom doesn’t want to dress a Barbie for the 45th time in an hour. Maybe mom wants to tell their daughter “let your Barbie go swimming right now”.
It’s not that their bodies are offensive,
It’s just kind of offensive to see them sprawled naked all over the place and as someone else said – those Barbies don’t teach anything about real bodies to children. It’s your attitude to your own body that teaches your children. Do you respect it, keep it healthy etc. I painted underwear on my Barbies too. I just got so sick of seeing them spread eagled in the nude.
I just came from my 5 year old twin grandkids house, and there were a ton of nekked Barbies and a few unclothed Kens, too. I tried to tell them that we ought to put some clothes on those poor dolls because they looked cold, but it sure is hard to dress them. I came home and turned to Pinterest for doll clothes patterns and came across your wonderful idea. Nail polish swimsuits it is. Of course Grandma will be making some little outfits too!
Thanks so much for a great idea. Gonna go try it now. Also, I don’t hang around naked in the house so why does Barbie get to? 🙂
This is a really super good idea. I’ve been looking on how to customize a barbie body for a full-body tribal-paint design and this seems so much easier than some of the ideas I’ve seen.
So questions:
How long does it last? Have you had trouble with chipping or fading? What sort of polish did you use or was it just any old polish?
I don’t remember the brand, but I don’t recall it as being anything special. I’ve had one that rubbed off a little bit in spots, but I just recoated and it has been fine. The glittery polishes have held up beautifully!
What a wonderful idea! I just stumbled upon this while poking around on pinterest. Thank you for sharing.
I took the time to repaint the dolls at my child care site and was very pleased, but for those who are less inclined I just saw some at walmart called Water Play Barbie and she has a cute one piece bathing suit already painted on.
Thanks for the tip!
I was glad to come across this as the nude Barbies bother me too. I didn’t read through everything to see what the whole controversy was with hiding nakedness but although I too try to be careful not to make children feel ashamed of their bodies or destroy their self image and all that, I also teach my kids that their bodies are sacred and private and it is important for them to understand that there are parts that are not shown publicly and they need to cover up and be guarded (because those parts are special). Saying a Barbie laying naked in the middle of the house is inappropriate does not seem like the wrong message to me. I teach preschool and naked Barbies in the middle of the room with a bunch of little boys is not my favorite thing. But I’m probably a prude too but my house will feel a lot safer and I think when people feel their body is important enough to keep some things private they actually love themselves and their bodies more. Showing off everything to everyone and talking about it with anybody does not create respect for one’s body.
I’m 24 and a former Barbie collector and current Barbie clothing maker. I was always uncomfortable leaving them “nude” either! This is a great idea, I may take some of my models and do this to them for when I go to craft shows!
Brilliant idea! My 7 year old has a ton of barbies, all naked as she takes off the clothes and then either cant get them on properly or has lost them. She had a barbie swimming pool for Christmas and this idea is perfect as they don’t have any swimsuits. I’m surprised by some of the comments that have been posted, but I guess people need to moan about something. Thank you for the tutorial 🙂
I realize this is an old post but I am very happy to have found it because I have three daughters (ages 6, 7, and 8) so I have about 1000 Barbies. We just spent a day getting all the tangles out of their hair with a recipe I found on Pinterest also and when I saw this post I thought it would be something else fun to do with the girls that they would enjoy and would also make the insane amount of Barbies we have look better while lying around. It has nothing to do with body image or feminism just as fixing the problem of the ugly matted hair had nothing to do with vanity. First off, people are putting WAAAYYYY too much thought into a simple activity that I am sure started out as nothing more than something fun to do. Not everything has to be dissected. There is not always some hidden meaning. I am sure the naked bodies of the Barbies didn’t “offend” you it is just that naked Barbies laying around with a mess of hair are not only unattractive to us (and anyone who says that is beauty is lying) but they are to the girls as well. By fixing their hair and painting some colorful bathing suits on them I would bet this week’s paycheck that the girls will spend more time paying with them since they will look “new” again. Secondly, I have recently commented to my husband several times that regardless of what the post is about it seems people just can’t keep things pleasant. If you don’t like the suits….don’t paint them on the anatomically incorrect Barbies in your home. If you don’t like a furniture piece someone made over don’t do it and don’t buy it. But WHY do people feel the need to comment negative stuff? “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.” And thirdly, I have also been getting more and more tired of watching mothers attack one another. we don’t support each other. It’s all judgment all the time and it seems that too many moms think they have it all figured out when the truth is none of us do, we are all doing the best we can with what we have. If bathing suits on Barbies would make your child ashamed of their body then don’t do it but I know my girls would never even consider such a thing and if I’m being honest I would worry about a child who did correlate the two…..but that isn’t my place to say since everyone parents their own children their own way and it’s not my place to judge JUST as it isn’t theirs to judge how I or anyone else choose to parent. This nonsense makes people afraid to open up and share their lives with the world and when we set that type of climate we are all losing out. I have been a parent for a decade now and I see brand new mommies with infants talking about how a mom with a toddler throwing a fit in a grocery store should act. Guess what? They don’t know because they haven’t been there yet. It’s just enough ya’ll. And to the mom who had the NERVE to say that they “feel sorry” for Cassity’s kids well that is such a reprehensible thing to say to ANY mother but especially for no other reason than she painted a bathing suit on a Barbie you should be ashamed of yourself. All I can say is I hope you practice perfection in your parenting to be able to live with yourself for saying such a thing. That said I will be doing this with my girls this weekend and having FUN. I’ll send everyone a check for $1000 the day they enter therapy as an adult because of this weekend’s activity. Lord. Cassity I love your blog. I love the idea and appreciate you sharing it and clearly you are a great mom who looks to have a very happy little girl. Feel free not to post this in the comments if you choose not to. More than anything I just wanted to share my thoughts with you because I was so offended by the negativity. Please don’t let it get to you because so many of us are inspired by what you share.
Thank you very much !! I loved the idea.
I could not answer before because I was painting our Barbies !
I totally enjoyed see this! I am tired of seeing my girls naked girl and boy dolls. How can someone have a problem with that? You raise your kids your way and they can raise their kids their way. Momma, you did what was right for you! Thanks for sharing! By the way, is there a particular type of nail polish that is better to use??
Thanks, LaTonya! We used several different types and they all seemed to hold up well.
Best idea ever! I hate seeing naked barbies, don’t know why, but I have to dress them and not always have the time. I might as well paint bikinis so that mermaids can keep on showing their belly buttom.
Also, I know it’s almost two years late, but I can’t understand why people with such a strong opinions even bother to read a post on barbies. Could it be they have nothing better to do???
I love your idea! It’s sad that people have to lash out because they have different views on life. They are just Barbies! I personally love modest barbies, they have always been my favorite toys and their body shape and clothes do not effect me or my 3 daughters. You are awesome and thank you for posting!
Thanks, Rebecca!
I cannot believe you were criticized over this. I think this is probably the best idea I’ve seen on Pinterest yet! Not only do I have a little girl who likes playing with her Barbie’s, but I also have a little boy too. And I feel akward when there are naked Barbies laying around. And although he does not think anything about them yet, I don’t want him to ever feel akward or uncomfortable because of them. And about the whole ‘what your children learn’ thing…since thats obviously how some people feel about children playing. I don’t feel its acceptable to teach little girls that its ok to run around naked. Sheesh…I’m getting all worked up now. Lol. Anyway…you’re idea was wonderful and thanks so much for sharing. Its just sad that some people take everything way too serious. And I believe body image is extremely important, and painting swimsuits on my daughters Barbies will help her (as well as my son) understand that bodies (unclothed) are important, and personal and not meant for others to see. You better believe I’ll be going straight for my nail polish! I’ve already got tye colors picked out 🙂
My mom used to give my Barbies a sharpie suit! Wish we would have done the nail polish… Much more stylish 🙂 Thanks for sharing, even thoe the comments must be exhausting by now.