Just Ken

It’s the 9th anniversary of my dad’s death. There are a million reasons that I honour him every day but one of my fondest childhood memories is that he would sit down and play Barbies with us. I still play with dolls and I never had the patience to sit down with my nieces and their toys.

Another reason that he deserved the father of the year award is that we would boss him around during these sessions. Basically we needed his adult hands to help us dress up our dollies.

I recently asked my mom about this memory. She said that he just liked spending time with his girls. She added that she had no patience for trying to fit stiff Barbie arms and legs into tiny outfits.

I will admit that my sisters and I were mostly tomboys but in different ways. We didn’t have a lot of Barbies and most of them ended up on the roof of our bungalow.

Ken was less popular in our house. I had a Mod Hair Ken. He’s the only childhood Ken I can recall. But recently I came into a treasure trove of 1960s Ken outfits at the Value Village and, in memory of my dad, I dressed my modern Ken friend in some vintage duds.

None of these looks were complete. For example, the beach boy look above is missing its trunks. It did come with its cork-soled beach slides but modern Ken’s feet are too big. The most complete look is the creepy clown which would have had a paper party invite.

Or maybe those sandals belonged to this dude?

The King Arthur costume posted up top came with a “metal” rubber helmet and a broad sword but modern Ken’s head is too big. Even my dad would have given up on that task. And the baseball player has a bat and glove but floppy haired Fashionista Ken’s hands are splayed in a way that make the accessories useless.

The last two ensembles are kind of hodgepodges. The scarf with the preppy sport coat should have gone with the Dutch Boy costume, but I didn’t realize this until I researched the outfits more. And the Netherlander should not be wearing a waistcoat. I didn’t realize the best with the info I had.