That time a group of island collectors made the most authentic Hawaii Barbie

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Barbie-mania has taken over the country.

So what better time to recount the time a group of local Barbie collectors in Hawaii that created a truly authentic Hawaii Barbie?

The first time Barbie canonically visited Hawaii was in the 1963 book “Barbie’s Hawaiian Holiday”. The book details Barbie and her family’s Christmas trip to visit her dad’s Pearl Harbor war buddy’s family on Black Point Road.

Throughout the book, Barbie learns all about Hawaiian fashion, language, and to Ken’s chagrin, surfer boys.

This book was paired with the fashion doll in a “Barbie in Hawaii” set. And in a stereotypical depiction of Hawaii, the doll came with a red and white floral print bikini, along with a colorful lei, a bright yellow pineapple green grass hula skirt, a hat, and an ukulele.

Ken joined her in a blue and white floral sarong and lei.

Since the 60′s, there have been many more variations of Hawaii Barbie dolls, from the “Hawaiian Barbie” dolls of 1975 and 1982 to Barbie’s first Hawaiian friend and the first Pacific Islander Barbie Doll, Miko, who had a short but impactful stint from 1985-2001.

Drag performer, and Barbie collector Trixie Mattel says Barbies aren’t just about fashion and collectibles. They also function as an incredible historical time capsule. “Looking at Barbie dolls, we’re basically looking at tiny historical snapshots of historical significance.”

Barbie went off the culturally appropriative rails in the 90s, though, when the company introduced “Hula Hair Barbie.”

Mattel attempted to be more culturally accurate with the 2005 “Princess of the Pacific Islands” and the 2011 “Hawaii Passport Barbie; Barbies of the world.”

But Hawaii Barbie enthusiasts say none of these Barbies hold a candle to the “Limited Edition Hawaiian Holiday with Barbie,” created by a group of local fans in the late 90s.

The Barbie Hawaii club was led by the late Florence Delos Santos-Marton, a prolific Barbie collector, recognized in 1989 as having the largest Barbie collection in the US at the time, with 924 dolls.

In 1986, Marton established the Hawaii Loves Barbie museum in her expanded garage, which remained open until she died in 2011. The museum was chock full of dolls in pristine cases, but was also home to many well-loved dolls with original outfits made by Delos Santos-Marton.

“It’s like a walk down memory lane,” said Santos-Marton, in a 2004 interview. “People get so happy when they see the dolls that they played with when they were young.”

In 1996, Florence organized a group of women, many of whom she met at the swap meet, to discuss the latest dolls they’ve added to their collection.

This group included fellow collector and fashion lover Debbie Baptist Puchert.

Marton also used these meetings as an opportunity to bring her vision of a Barbie convention in Hawaii to life.

“We would set up meetings, and we would bring our newest finds,” Puchert said.

“And we would eat and chit-chat about the latest Barbie that each collected or found, and it was actually more planning for the convention.”

Leaning on skills from each club member, Puchert helped spearhead efforts to make a Limited Edition Barbie doll. Luckily, Puchert worked at Hilo Hattie at the time.

“So we decided to do two types of dolls. One was a limited edition. And I think we made about 50 of them. Then the second doll, we made about 200 of them were.”

The plan was to sell the limited edition Barbies and hand out the other 200 at the convention.

The group mailed letters to Mattel to see if they could get real Barbie Dolls for the convention that they could later re-dress — and Mattel agreed.

“I worked at Hilo Hattie at that time. And I asked the production manager if he could make the costume. And he said yes. And the costume was very simple. It was a pareau.”

The 50 limited edition dolls had a red and white pareau along with instructions for the 14 ways for the doll to wear it. They also included a real koa ipu that was authenticated by the woodworker who designed them and miniature feather uli uli.

“I think it took us maybe three weeks. We would get together at Hilo Hattie sometimes in my office, and we would have an assembly line,” said Puchert.

The convention was held on Feb. 8, 1997, and the event went off without a hitch. Each participant enjoyed a week of Barbie fun and left with a souvenir from the Hawaii Barbie Club.

“here were a few that flew in for the convention and what happened was they made a week out of it. Obviously, they went to Florence’s Barbie museum,” said Puchert.

Puchert remembers Florence and her love of Barbie very fondly.

“She loved Barbie. And that’s what I remember about her husband that whatever Florence wanted, the husband was there by her side. He helped her build the shelves put up everything, and you know, just that was the Barbie museum. I don’t know if there’s another one like it.”

Puchert’s career in fashion design endures to this day as she continueses to create sarongs and pareaus for the fashion Tanoa clothing, the brainchild of her niece Cindy and her husband Aaron.

And you can bet that Puchert will be seeing the Barbie movie this weekend, surrounded by her friends and coworkers who are also Barbie fans.

She wishes Florence could see the film with them.

“I feel like she’d love it.”

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