It wasn’t until 1980 that Barbie herself was black. Designer Bob Mackie first used the face for his Neptune Fantasy Barbie. Mackie described the dolls he designed for Mattel as "very ...

The 84-year-old Mackie has created 47 different dolls for Mattel, with a wide variety of face sculpts, body types and storylines. Mattel might have created Barbie, but Bob Mackie made her famous.