To celebrate the 40th anniversary of American Girl, a beloved doll brand that is equally invested in girlhood friendships and the domestic hardships of World War II, the toymaker Mattel announced a new line of redesigned dolls from its historical collection. What immediately jumped out at fans from its new Modern Era collection, aside from the characters’ Gen Z-inspired fashion sense, was that the dolls now appeared skinnier.
Of course, the backlash on social media was swift; in the replies of an Instagram post unveiling the new line, Ozempic jokes abounded.
Sophia Elizalde, a 20-year-old cosmetology student in Provo, Utah, said she loved the four American Girl dolls she owned as a child. “They had those little cloth bodies and they resembled little girls,” she said. “I didn’t look at them and see a skinny Barbie doll.”
The new Modern Era collection, unveiled on Feb. 11, plucks the first six American Girl characters from their historical context and imagines how they might look and dress if they lived in our world today.
For the 40th-anniversary transformation, Kirsten Larson, a Swedish immigrant in the 1850s, had her braided tresses pinned into space buns and saw her classic blue calico dress swapped for a fitted, over-the-knee frock with ruffles.
The Addy Walker character, who escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad, was now wearing her hair in long twists with slicked-down baby hairs, instead of her classic straw bonnet.
Since the 1980s, the American Girl brand has held a special place in the hearts of not only those of doll-playing age, but also adults who have grown up with the characters and maintain an abiding fondness for them.
So how can a self-described “multigenerational” brand remain committed to its traditional ethos that satisfies older fans, while also tapping into the trends and culture of its new ones?
“We want to spend the year honoring the legacy of the brand and the ongoing legacy of our characters because that’s what first ignited consumer passion,” Jamie Cygielman, the global head of dolls at Mattel, said in a phone interview. “And so Modern Era is a creative extension, really meant to celebrate the original historical characters in a different form.”
According to Ms. Cygielman, the new dolls weren’t redesigned to look thinner or to resemble teenagers. Unlike the original dolls, which were 18 inches tall, the updated dolls are 14½ inches, an established size that has existed in other American Girl product lines. The primary reason for the change of size and weight was for “ease of play” for younger consumers, she said.
“We are still deeply committed to the original 18-inch dolls and their stories,” Ms. Cygielman said, adding that American Girl would continue to sell “reissues of the original dolls, but also tell some new stories too.”
One American Girl fan, Emily Marks, 31, said she thought the new dolls were cute and was excited for this new collection.
“They still look like kids to me,” said Ms. Marks, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., and owned an American Girl doll as a child. “I like that it’s an entry of more interest into the historical dolls.”
Still, some fans claim that the style and beauty alterations gives the dolls a mature appearance, unlike the modest and historically accurate clothing they traditionally wore.
“I feel that the heads on these new ones look a lot bigger compared to the body,” said Adriana Ryan of Blackwood, N.J., 32, a recreation director at an assisted-living community, who also grew up playing with the historical dolls. “They’re almost very cartoonish-looking to me.”
“Maybe the dolls might appeal to kids today, but I think it’s definitely missing the historical appeal,” she added.
A former children’s textbook writer named Pleasant Rowland debuted the first three American Girl dolls in 1986, with characters from different historical periods and accompanying books for each telling their story. Mattel acquired her company in 1998 and, since then, has released a number of new products, books and doll lines.
Ms. Cygielman said when she joined the company in 2019, American Girl was finding that most of its adult consumer interests revolved around the original characters, but that younger consumers were gravitating toward the contemporary collections.
“I think the opportunity has been for us to merge history and modernity and get kids interested in storytelling and talking about the past,” Ms. Cygielman said.
Emily Kokidko, 28, who started the Instagram account @ModernAmericanGirlDolls, creates parody memes of different American Girl characters, including one who is obsessed with her air fryer and another who enjoys bagged salads and shopping at TJ Maxx. Ms. Kokidko says she believes her content is popular because of the universal nostalgia surrounding the brand.
“To see them in a new light, as maybe around their age, is fun for them,” she said. When she saw the announcement of the Modern Era collection, Ms. Kokidko said she was “excited at first.”
“And then when I saw the dolls themselves, I was kind of taken aback,” she said. “I was like, Wow, they are kind of skinny.”
Gina Cherelus covers dating, relationships and culture for The Times and writes the weekly dating column Third Wheel.
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