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Kitty Perkins is a Spartanburg, South Carolina-based fashion designer who produced the first black Barbie in the 1980s. Perkins, the son of a housekeeper and a chef, was never given Barbie dolls as a child.
Her childhood toys were from the houses her mother cleaned. According to Greenville News, they were mostly hand-me-downs and Shirley Temple dolls, but not miniature Barbie dolls, and she dressed them in her own baby clothes.
However, the doll industry’s lack of diversity and inclusiveness fueled her passion for fashion and innovation. She used old newspapers to cut dress designs after learning how to sew from her mother and grandmother.
“I remember going to S.H. Kress’s on Main Street,” she said. “I remember going to that store and getting a yard of fabric for 15 cents.” According to Perkins, her first outfit was an ill-fitting jumpsuit but her mother kept inspiring her.
She ultimately saw the fruits of her labor when toy giant Mattel engaged her in 1976 and charged her with designing a new Barbie doll wardrobe. The company employed her as a Barbie outfits designer after being impressed with her work.
“My first week [at Mattel], I would just sit and brush Barbie’s hair. It would give me ideas and it was a thinking process for me. As I was stroking the hair, ideas would just come,” Perkins told Greenville News.
She oversaw the design team that created the first-ever Black Barbie doll, which was introduced in 1980, four years after she was hired. And she helped diversify one of the country’s most popular toys for three decades, generating over 100 designs per year, including the Brandy Barbie Dolls in the late 1990s, inspired by singer Brandy Norwood.
Shanni and Friends, a doll brand founded by Perkins in 1991, is one of her doll lines. She also launched Fashion Savvy in 1997 and created a special doll that was dedicated to the South Carolina State Museum in May 2001. She left the company the next year.
Perkins graduated from Los Angeles Trade Technical College with a degree in fashion design. She also worked for several Los Angeles fashion firms before joining Mattel. Among them are Miss Melinda of California, Debbie Ross, and A & O Couture.
