Mattel Television Developing Barbie Fashion Battle Reality Series

Barbie is officially headed to television, but not in the way you might think. Mattel Television has announced they're developing a reality competition series titled Barbie Fashion Battle, a series centered completely around fashion design for the titular Doll. Mission Control Media, home of Hollywood Game Night, will co-produce with Mattel Television. This announcement marks the latest series revealed to be in development from Mattel based around one of their many iconic brands. It was previously revealed that the hit card game UNO as well as Whac-A-Mole were also in development as game shows by Mattel Television, Barbie however marks the first to not already be a competitive plaything.

The official description for "Barbie Fashion Battle" reads: (The series) features 12 up-and-coming adult designers who will be divided into two separate fashion houses, each headed by a celebrity fashion icon. The designers will then create miniature high-fashion collections for Barbie that are presented in cinematic reveal sequences. The winner will receive a cash prize as well as the opportunity to design a line of Barbie doll fashions for Mattel Creations, an e-commerce and content platform that features curated items for sale and highlights creator collaborations past and present"

"For more than 60 years, Barbie has been boss when it comes to fashion and has served as a muse for a variety of fashion designers, many of whom continue to design for her today," Mattel Television's Adam Bonnett said in a statement (H/T The Wrap). "Now, in partnership with Mission Control Media, 'Barbie Fashion Battle' will give the next generation of designers the opportunity to design high-fashion looks for Barbie. This project is part of our broader effort to expand the Barbie content universe with new scripted and unscripted content including the recently announced 'Barbie & Chelsea The Lost Birthday,' among other projects."

"Barbie is one of the most recognized brands in the world so the opportunity to collaborate with Mattel on this fun and creative project has been incredible," Mission Control Media's Dwight D. Smith added. "We can't wait to introduce viewers to this colorful world and see all of the stunning work these fashion designers create."

Readers may recall that a big screen feature film of Barbie has been in the works for many years as well. Set to be live-action the project originally had comedian Amy Schumer tied to it in 2016 when it was being developed at Sony with Margot Robbie boarding the film in 2019 after WB began work on their own version. Oscar nominees Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach were previously brought on to pen the script.

(Cover photo courtesy Mattel, Inc.)