Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Limitless dress-up options, heavy consumerism.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Barbie Fashionistas
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
Entering Barbie's endless closet's elevator, kids choose their destination: the closet or the design studio. In the closet, kids choose a Barbie and change her outfit, hair, and accessories simply by swiping. They can change the doll, too, by swiping her head. They can take pictures of favorite designs or use a fingertip or Fashionista ring to see their designs transform more, changing colors or sleeve styles. In the design studio, kids choose from blank designs and customize fabric options and have the dolls model their original designs.
Is It Any Good?
Barbie lovers or kids who enjoy dressing up will have a blast creating designs and changing the dolls and their clothes. Barbie's closet is truly endless here, giving kids more outfits to choose from than any playroom could handle. The design options give kids some creative options but are limited to changing fabrics and patterns; you can't change the actual design of the outfit. The controls are very easy to use, so even preschoolers can pick them up with no problem. There's typical Barbie diversity here, with dolls featuring diverse skin tones and facial features but all the same tall, slender body type and "perfect" hair.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about fashion. For older kids interested in fashion design, provide them with sewing materials to create their own designs.
For younger kids interested in dressing up Barbie, encourage them to play hands-on with dressing up real dolls to develop fine motor skills and social skills.
Read our article Boys, Girls, and Media Messages for thoughts on how to combat gender stereotypes (such as those that emphasize the importance of how girls look and dress).
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Kindle Fire
- Pricing structure : Free (More fashion collections can be purchased in-app, ranging from $1.99 for one collection to $10.99 for all collections.)
- Release date : June 13, 2014
- Genre : Kids' Games
- Publisher : Mattel, Inc.
- Version : 4.2.3
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 5.0 or later
- Last updated : July 12, 2020
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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