It's different to rationally know that a Barbie doll's figure is based on wishful — and anatomically impossible — thinking, and then see the gaping disparity between what the doll and an average woman would look like side-by-side.
Click here to see the difference>
After comparing a Barbie's measurements with those of an average American 19-year-old woman (as determined by the CDC), artist Nickolay Lamm of MyDeals.com decided to take two months to create a real-life rendering of the Barbie doll.
"I want to show that average is beautiful," Lamm told Business Insider. "If Barbie can look good as an average woman, why doesn't Mattel make one? I've done a lot of Barbie projects because a lot of things can be improved to make the doll look more like a real woman."
This juxtaposition is a continuation of Lamm's other work around the Barbie doll. He has also shown what Barbie would look like without makeup and created images contrasting real versus Barbie-proportioned women.
But the 3-D figurines really brings the message home.
"The 3D printed model allowed me to make an accurate representation of normal Barbie because I used it as an outline in Photoshop," Lamm said. "The whole project took about two months to complete."
Lamm spent two months creating Barbie models based on average American women's measurements.
The difference was jarring.
And immediately noticeable.
The CDC determines that an average 19-year-old female's height is 64.29". A barbie is almost five inches taller.
But while an average woman's waist is 33.62", Barbie's is only 18".
Lamm was careful to make the new doll's measurements as accurate as possible.
"I want to show that average is beautiful," he told BI.
Thighs and all.
Would American consumers buy these more accurate renderings of women?
"If Barbie can look good as an average woman, why doesn't Mattel make one?" Lamm asks.
Want to see Barbie in another light?
Here she is without any makeup>
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