Blythe (doll)

Blythe

Blythe dolls can be customized
Type	Fashion doll
Inventor	Allison Katzman
Company	Kenner/Takara
Country	USA/Japan
Availability	1972–present
Official website

Blythe /ˈblaɪθ/ is a fashion doll, about 28 cm (11 inch) tall, with an oversized head and large eyes that change color with the pull of a string. The Blythe Dolls were based on the paintings 'Big Eyes' by the artist Margaret Keane. It was created in 1972 and was initially only sold for one year in the United States by toy company Kenner (later purchased by Hasbro). In 2000 the photo book This is Blythe was published and in 2001 the Japanese toy company Takara began producing new editions of Blythe dolls. There is a network of hobbyists who customize the doll for resale and create clothing and shoes for Blythe. Enthusiasts share photographs of their work and other types of dolls on the Internet.

Blythe was created in the early seventies by designer Allison Katzman at Marvin Glass and Associates and bought and produced in the United States in 1972 by the now-defunct toy company Kenner. Many years ahead of her time, Blythe dolls were only sold for one year in the U.S. (produced in Hong Kong) and also in the UK, Australia and Japan, during 1972. Over time the original "Kenner" Blythe dolls acquired a cult following of collectors and eventually, photographers. Ms. Katzman stated at the August 1, 2014 Blythe panel discussion in Seattle, Washington that while designing a fashion doll to compete with Barbie, she considered elements girls would like to be able to have, such as changing eye color. (Which were partially inspired by her teenaged daughter's tinted contact lenses.) Ms Katzman has stated that she found Betty Boop to be her main inspiration, not the said Margaret Keane orphans, as some people have assumed. She created a mock up paper doll with sliding colored gels for eyes, that she presented to the other members of her creative team. Gordon Barlow, an in house engineer, then designed the distinctive rotating cylinder with four different eye colors, changed by way of a pull string in the back of Blythe's head.