With an added pep in her step, Spencer attended a seminar put on by Fashion Group International–Minneapolis/St. “I wasn’t happy about being told what to do.” Unwilling to succumb to the idea of wearing the “Suzy Homemaker” badge, Spencer spoke up-and he broke off the engagement. Her fiancé's parents wanted her to continue working to help pay for his medical school.
She wasn’t particularly enamored with the idea of following in the footsteps of the typical young women of her era. “But, hey, I needed a paycheck!”Īt the time, all of her friends were becoming secretaries, teachers, nurses, or stay-at-home moms. She eventually taught herself to sew and began designing pieces for herself and her paper dolls.Īfter graduating from Washburn High School in 1950, Spencer decided not to attend the University of Minnesota and instead took a job in the Sears catalog department office.
“My grandmother would warn me that if I came any closer, she’d stitch my nose to her pattern!” says Spencer. Growing up, she loved watching her grandmother sew. Her very modern tale includes stories of how she defied stereotypes of women in the 1950s and unapologetically chased an unconventional career as couturière of itsy-bitsy bikinis and pocket-sized pencil skirts at Mattel.įollowing the death of her father when she was three years old, Carol Spencer, her mother, and her sister left their home in Texas and went to live with her aunt, uncle, and grandmother in Minneapolis. After a quick email exchange (including an email signature line that reads “Barbie love, Carol Spencer”), Ms. Carol Spencer, 86, now lives in LA and was the pop culture icon’s longest-reigning fashion designer-and, perhaps, Barbie’s personal stylist. Paul to do when she catches wind that a girl from 1950s Minneapolis designed clothes for Barbie? I tracked her down. In March 2019, Spencer’s memoir, Dressing Barbie: A Celebration of the Clothes That Made America’s Favorite Doll and the Incredible Woman Behind Them, was published in celebration of the Barbie doll’s 60th anniversary.