In a world where beauty and fashion standards have often been limited and exclusive, a Ghanaian shea butter entrepreneur and model, has emerged as a trailblazer. We explore the African Barbie and her impact on challenging societal norms and misrepresentation.
Hammamat Montia, since winning Miss Malaika 2006 and model of Africa Universe in 2007 has carved a niche for herself as an African beauty and fashion model promoting her HAMMAMAT brand of shea butter.
With her post depicting raw African culture where Africa’s beauty, architecture, and fashion are juxtaposed with the iconic Barbie brand, captioned: “Sheabutter Barbie KingsandQueens: Straight from the village”. Hammamat has taken a step towards highlighting the indigenous definitions of beauty achieved with locally sourced materials.
The first African-American Barbie doll “Christie” made her debut in 1968, almost a decade after the Barbie brand was introduced by Mattel. Christie lacked distinct African features other than dark skin. The “So In Style” range was introduced in 2009 to create a more realistic depiction of African-American people and has since been a key feature in all Barbie doll releases with different black identities.
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