Barbie Celebrates Role Models

Last week to celebrate International Women’s DayMattel unveiled «role model» Barbies. After decades of focusing on their beauty and fashion sense, the famous dolls show finally their brains, strength and power as well. Not your average Barbies, these dolls are «Sheroes», meaning women who are heroes, designed to give young girls a range of inspirational and positive female idols.

The new dolls came after Mattel conducted a survey of 8,000 mothers around the globe and found that 86% are worried about the kind of role models their daughters are exposed to. Mattel’s series of empowering women dolls range from both the past and present.

Amelia Earhart, Aviation Pioneer

Many view this development as a thoroughly refreshing and progressive addition to the toy market like me. The new range showcases women from an array of professions: it includes US snowboarder Chloe Kim, Australian conservationist Bindi Irwin, Chinese volleyball champion Hui Ruoqi and French chef Helene Darroze. The range is ethnically diverse, Ibtihaj Muhammad stands for the first hijab-wearing Barbie and Mexican artist Frieda Kahlo is another «Shero» in the collection.

Ibtihaj Muhammad, Fencing Champion

But there are many voices criticizing the new dolls for still looking like «Barbie» as Mattel minimized the typical features that also have made these women special such as the famous Kahlo‘s famous monobrow (Barbie’s brows are thicker but not exactly looking like Frida) or the muscles of boxer Nicola Adams Obe.

Mattel’s message: «Inspire your little ones to paint a world of possibilities!»

Frida Kahlo, Artist

Nevertheless, it’s a great start and kids will love to have dolls that represent aspirational career paths and commemorate inspiring women. From «Sheroes» to «Inspiring Women», have a look at the latest Barbie role models – all extraordinary women honored with a doll in their likeness.

Leyla Piedayesh, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur

By the way there is even a German lady among them: Iranian born Leyla Piedayesh who is the founder of fashion label lala Berlin. Congrats! Only a blogger is missing… I think for good when there is a real journalist as an influencer could probably be a quite tricky role model for a young girl.

LoL, Sandra

Nicola Adams Obe, Boxing Champion

Martyna Wojciechowska, Journalist

Patty Jenkins, Filmmaker

Chloe Kim, Snowboarding Champion

Hélène Darroze, World-Renowned Chef

Gabby Douglas, Gymnastics Champion

Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician and Physicist

Bindi Irwin, Conservationist

Yuan Yuan Tan, Prima Ballerina

Ashley Graham, Model And Body Activist

Sara Gama, Soccer Player

Hui Ruoqi, Volleyball Champion

Xiaotong Guan, Actress and Philanthropist

Ava Duvernay, Film Director

Photos: Courtesy of Mattel

Haute Cuisine Meets Haute Perfumery

The Taste of Fragrance

Thierry Mugler continues to overstep the boundaries of traditional perfume-making with his exceptional and legendary perfumes to launch more of his extraordinary creations. By venturing into unexplored territory, he appears where he is least expected.

The idea: experimenting beyond the innovative production processes
to create breathtaking perfumes.

The challenge: alter the structure without distorting the nature
of the four iconic fragrances by Thierry Mugler.

With the 2009 introduction of ‘Liqueurs de Parfum’, he drew on the ancestral know-how of winemakers to age his fragrances in wooden casks.

This year, Thierry Mugler Parfums continues to experiment, focusing its research on one of the senses showcased with its very first creation: taste.

With the 1992 release of Angel, Thierry Mugler invented a new olfactory family of “Oriental – Gourmand” fragrances, based on a “delicious” facet featuring red berries and praline notes.

In 2010, he repeated the experience with Womanity, creating the very first “Sweet – Savory” fragrance, which utilizes an exclusive molecular extraction process to achieve the fig and caviar accords.

Wish List Mugler

An unforgettable experience… Today, Thierry Mugler invites perfume lovers on a journey of fragrances and flavors with his new collection: the Taste of Fragrance.

With the ‘Taste of Fragrance’, the precursor of Haute Gourmand Perfumery is guilty of twisting fragrances, offering the rediscovery of Angel, Alien, Womanity and A*Men through their fantasized flavors.

Thierry Mugler allowed the perfumers full freedom, challenging them to broaden their palettes of ingredients and introducing into each composition a “taste enhancer”.

An explosive collection of four gourmand fragrances,
with superbly concocted notes that will nearly make your mouth water…

AngelAngel More Gourmand Than Gourmand (CHF 99)
– spiked with cocoa powder for a sweet and angelic scent.

Alien CAlien Carnal Sensuality (CHF 85)
floral notes added with wood, amber and salted butter caramel for a sensual-sophisticated scent.

Womanity CWomanity Sweet Femininity With A Savory Kick (CHF 109)
sweet notes added with fig chutney which creates a feminine scent.

Amen CA*Men Spicy Instinct (CHF 105)
enhanced with red pepper to bring out contrasting scents making a powerful fragrance.

All four limited editions are available now.

Taking this exercise in style a step further and establishing a genuine parallel between Haute Cuisine and Haute Perfumery, Thierry Mugler Parfums called on Hélène Darroze, one of the leading Michelin-starred French Chefs, to invent four recipes inspired by the new interpretations of these four fragrances.

Four sensory dishes for a ‘Taste of Fragrance’  MUGLERIAN dinner to be published on Sandra’s Closet during the next days. Probably an inspiration for your holiday feast…

LoL, Sandra