Mattel Honors Misty Copeland With New ‘Shero’ Barbie

Misty Copeland recently debuted her new Barbie doll on Good Morning America, where she and Robin Roberts talked about Copeland’s work with Prince, the Met Ball, and the new doll. The two revealed the new Barbie with a group of young ballerinas, each of whom received a doll of her own.

You can watch a short feature Mattel shot with Copeland here. Previous honorees include Ava DuVernay, Emmy Rossum, Eva Chen, and more. Lisa McKnight, Senior Vice President of Barbie, said in a press release, “We want to honor women, like Misty, who are inspiring the next generation of girls to live out their dreams. We know role play often leads to real ‘play’ in life and we’re thrilled to celebrate Misty with her very own doll.”

Copeland was involved in the process of designing the doll, saying “I was hands-on with making sure that she really looked like a dancer and looked like me. She has muscles, and calves, and thighs, and a bust. That was important to me.” The red dress is based on the costume for Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird, her first leading role at the American Ballet Theatre, which she will star in again this month.

“I always dreamed of becoming an ABT ballerina, and through Barbie I was able to play out those dreams early on. It’s an honor to be able to inspire the next generation of kids with my very own Barbie doll,” says Copeland. You can get a closer look and pre-order one at the Barbie site here!

(via Jezebel)

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