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10 best celebrity Barbie dolls: Queen Camilla’s new likeness follows fantastic plastic tributes to Kate Middleton, Beyoncé and Zendaya – but whose lookalike is now worth over US$10,000?

Mariah Carey, Queen Camilla and Naomi Osaka are among Style’s favourite Barbie likenesses. Photos: @nelsiecarrillo; @dnaroyals; @naomiosaka/Instagram
It’s been 65 years since Barbie was invented by Ruth Handler. Since then, Mattel has sold over a billion dolls, Barbie has had more than 250 professions, and thanks to Margot Robbie, she’s been given a new lease of life with the Barbie film.
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie have helped to revive the Barbie brand in the past year. Photo: @barbiemillicentsr/Instagram

The original Barbie sold for just US$3 in 1959 according to Business Insider, but these days the most coveted iterations of the doll are the limited edition Barbies – many of whom have been modelled on celebrities. The latest famous person to get the Barbie treatment? None other than 76-year-old Queen Camilla.

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The original 1959 Barbie doll, which sold for just US$3. Photo: @designmuseum/Instagram

So which other familiar faces have been blessed with the best Barbies – and whose likeness has proved to be most valuable? Read on to find out.

1. Queen Camilla

Queen Camilla was gifted a lookalike Barbie by the Women of the World Foundation. Photo: @dnaroyals/Instagram

For International Women’s Day this year, Queen Camilla was gifted a lookalike Barbie by the Women of the World Foundation. Complete with an Amanda Wakeley outfit and a pair of ultra-glam earrings, it was hand carried to London from LA by the global head of dolls at Mattel. “Brilliant, you’ve taken about 50 years off my life,” the queen quipped when she laid eyes on it.

2. Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey’s festive Barbie makeover. Photo: @vanityfairitalia; @nelsiecarrillo/Instagram

Just in time for Christmas last year, the queen of the festive season was made into a US$75 collectible doll, who can be seen clutching a microphone and wearing the red sparkly dress she wore in the original “All I Want For Christmas Is You” video.

“If I could go back and tell my little-girl self that one day I would have a Barbie made in my likeness, I would flip out!”, the songstress told People in November.

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3. Tina Turner

The Tina Turner doll commemorates the Grammy-winning artist. Photo: @kidulttoys/Instagram

One of the dolls in Mattel’s Signature Music Series, the Tina Turner doll commemorates the Grammy-winning artist and one of her most iconic outfits. Turner died just 7 months after the doll was released.

4. Shania Twain

Shania Twain is a fan of her Barbie. Photo: @shaniatwain/Instagram

Released in early March, Shania Twain is one of the newest celebrity Barbies to grace shelves, and for our money she’s one of the best yet. The “That Don’t Impress Me Much” singer seems to agree …

5. Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka with her namesake Barbie. Photo: @naomiosakanews/Instagram

Giving little girls a role model has always been central to the Barbie ethos, so it was only a matter of time before some of the world’s most impressive female athletes were immortalised. Enter Naomi Osaka Barbie, released in 2021 and, at US$30, remains one of the more affordable and accessible Barbies that’s still available.

Naomi Osaka Barbie, released in 2021. Photo: @naomiosaka/Instagram

6. Prince William and Kate Middleton

Prince William and Kate Middleton, depicted on their wedding day. Photo: @dollstothewall_nyc/Instagram
On the occasion of their first wedding anniversary, British royals William and Kate were turned into dolls by Mattel. Both represented in their wedding attire, Kate is dressed in her Alexander McQueen gown and William in his spiffy red Irish Guards uniform. It initially retailed on Amazon for just over US$150.

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7. Karl Lagerfeld

The highly collectable Karl Lagerfeld Barbie. Photo: @barbie/Instagram
All hail one of the most collectible Barbies of all time – the Lagerfeld Barbie – created in 2014 to pay homage to the iconic Parisian fashion designer. Only 900 were made and originally sold for around US$200. They sold out within an hour and now go for over US$10,000.
 

8. Zendaya

Zendaya’s Barbie doll was praised by its subject for diversifying the Barbie staple. Photo: @zendaya/Instagram
Back when Zendaya was still mostly known for her singing, she was honoured with a Barbiefication – and a good one at that.

“When I was little I couldn’t find a Barbie that looked like me, my … how times have changed,” she wrote on her Instagram at the time. “Thank you … for allowing me to be a part of your diversification and expansion of the definition of beauty.”

9. Beyoncé

Beyoncé’s barbie was part of a Destiny’s Child series. Photo: @kidulttoys/Instagram
Perhaps you only get one shot at being Barbie, which is a shame since the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer was immortalised as the doll back in 2005 when she was still in Destiny’s Child. She clearly loves the brand though. She even gifted Blue Ivy an US$80,000 bejewelled Barbie doll for her first birthday.

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10. Heidi Klum

Mattel’s take on Victoria’s Secret model Heidi Klum. Photo: @dontouchmytoys/Instagram

In 2009 Mattel released a Blonde Ambition collection, featuring none other than Victoria’s Secret model Heidi Klum. “I am so into Barbie. It has been a dream come true,” she told People at the time.

  • From British royals Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla to pop stars Mariah Carey and Shania Twain, limited edition celebrity Barbies are a collector’s dream – so which likeness has proved the most valuable?
  • For Zendaya, being Barbified ‘expanded the definition of beauty’ and showed her ‘how times have changed’, and Naomi Osaka and Tina Turner have also been immortalised