Blythes
Blythe appears in the '70s. Very early for their time the blythes were marketed for a single year in the United States, Australia and Japan in 1972 before falling into oblivion. The original doll produced by Kenner became a cult among collectors and photographers many years later thanks to the design of Allison Katzman who wanted to compete with the famous Barbie.
For this, she invented an attractive system of eyes color changing on the doll inspired by Betty Boop.
In 1997, Blythe become the star of an advertising campaign for a store chain. Following that, it won the heart of the popular youth people and finally took its place.
In 2001, Hasbro gave Takara in Japan and CWC, a license to produce the New Blythe Edition: the Neo-Blythe.
There are several sizes of Blythe but only the original has the system on the eyes. Its price can vary from a few tens of eros to several hundred, or even much more for dolls dating back to 1972!
Unfortunately there are many copies (Blybe, Basaak and CCE Dolls) and forgeries of the Blythe doll.
Counterfeits are often found on Ebay, but of course you won’t have the authentic doll, its quality or its aesthetics… For copying, brands have tried to use the Blythe style to attract an already conquered audience, and here again we find lower quality dolls at very competitive prices, but also very fragile with a body far from Blythe's one and a much less pleasant rendering.
A special Blythe was even redesigned and adapted by the legitimate brand to be integrated into the world of Littlest PetShop. The commercial approach is original but the doll is much less crunchy than its alpha.
Blythes in 1972
