By Katherine Rosman The New York Times Fri., April 26, 2019 LOS ANGELES—Carol Spencer, 86, may be the most influential fashion designer you’ve never heard of. In the mid 1960s, she made a red pencil skirt with a white sleeveless blouse that had red stitching and three red buttons down the front. Short white gloves came with it. Thousands sold. In the 1970s, well aware that the counterculture’s loosening dress code had made it to the mainstream, Spencer designed a red bandana halter maxi-dress and a matching leisure shirt for men. Those designs were popular, too. In the Nancy Reagan 1980s, Spencer aimed for high-end appeal, making a one-shouldered ball gown in blue jacquard with an organza flower at the nipped-in waist and a cape. One of Reagan’s go-to couturiers personally approved the gown to be sold under his name: “Oscar de la Renta for Barbie.” Spencer has made wedding dresses, saris, go-go boots and caftans. All in miniature. From 1963 to 1999, she was Barbie’s fashion designer, a career celebrated in her new book, Dressing Barbie. Article Continued Below Spencer also made her own clothes and had an easy time working with the doll’s famously unusual proportions, she said, because they weren’t so far from her own. “I have shrunk, but in those days, I was tall and skinny,” she said. “I had a 16-inch waist and something on top, too, I sure did, but Barbie’s legs were better than mine.” She was sitting in her dining room, wearing… [Read full story]
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