American Girl Doll Celebrates Harlem Renaissance With Help From Designer Samantha Black
Barbiecore has been a ruling summer fashion trend but American Girl is saluting the Harlem Renaissance with its newest doll.
The “Claudie Wells” character celebrates the Harlem Renaissance and its literary heritage with help from bestselling author Brit Bennett and fashion designer Samantha Black. Just like other American Girl dolls, the latest addition has a personal and historic story and one that is immersed in the rich African American artistic and cultural heritage of Harlem in the ’20s.
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Bennett, a New York Times bestselling author, was tapped for the project after tweeting that she was interested in writing an American Girl story based on her experience with the brand and derived one from the Harlem Renaissance. The subject is one the writer said she has always enjoyed studying, an outpouring of Black artistry that emerged alongside larger struggles for equal rights. Bennett consulted with five established academics led by Georgetown University professor of history and African American studies and Pulitzer Prize winner Marcia Chatelain.
Bennett’s “Meet Claudie” paperback was illustrated by Laura Freeman. It comes with every doll and is also available in a separate keepsake hardcover edition.
To further enhance the toy with some historical context, American Girl designers referenced ’20s publications, photographs and resources like W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Brownies’ Book,” the first magazine geared toward Black children. The brown-eyed doll was made with a new face mold and has shoulder-length dark hair with ringlets, a hair bow, a plaid dress, a knit cardigan, a heart pendant, a cloche hat and an era-authentic Baby Ruth candy bar, albeit a replica one.
Through a collaboration with Harlem’s Fashion Row, the Mattel-owned company’s 21-inch “Claudie” can be dressed in three special-edition outfits that are meant to be modernized versions of ’20s glamour. Started in 1986, American Girl has had its own renaissance as of late, thanks first to influencers posting from the flagship café, TikTokers sharing American Girl-inspired recipes and sardonic memes about wish-list American Girl dolls. (There were 381.4 million videos related to American Girl dolls on TikTok as of Tuesday afternoon.)
Along with hosting a runway show Tuesday night in its Rockefeller Center flagship, American Girl will be supporting the Harlem School for the Arts with a combined $100,000 donation made up of cash, Claudie dolls and books. The funding will support HSA Prep, a pre-professional scholarship program geared for students between the ages of 12 and 18.
Black, who designs under the label Sammy B, discussed the new project Tuesday. After first going the corporate route in fashion design, she started her own business in 2016. Prior to that, Black worked at the Aeropostale-owned Jimmy’Z specializing in women’s denim and also freelanced in design and consulted for a number of other brands, including American Apparel, Jessica Simpson, Jordache and Target.
Growing up, Black said she “idolized” American Girl dolls mainly because they were “so cool, different and super expensive. In my house, that was the expensive doll. It was not so easily attainable.” As a child, her favorite was the “Samantha” doll, whose name resonated with the future designer. Although Black had never thought about designing a doll, she thinks it’s really cool “to design something for little Black girls” and she wants them to not only feel special but also to see themselves in the doll. Black also made a point of designing clothes that even adults would want to wear.
With the outfits that she has designed Black hopes that young girls will be able to envision themselves now and their future selves in other areas. “Growing up, I don’t know if as much love and attention was put into the Brown and Black girls. Even I wanted the blonde doll because I felt that the outfits and accessories were better,” Black said. “With Claudie, I feel that everything about her is special even from her casual outfits to the outfits that I designed, she looks super cool. She is in a good life. It doesn’t have to be hard. A girl can have a soft life — a fabulous, luxury soft life.”
Uncertain how this endeavor will impact her business, Black has seen an uptick in social media followers and expects more people to find her, who might not have otherwise. “I also hope that people will see me as a designer who can do many things. Designing for a doll is fun, but there is also a lot to take into account. You have to think about that you are addressing an age range that is so impressionable,” Black said. “If an adult is seeing me for the first time, I just want them to see that I am multifaceted.”
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The designer continued, “I really don’t know what it will bring. But I hope all that it brings is good and so far that’s what it has brought. It has exposed me to more people. The writer Brit [Bennett] messaged me saying that everyone’s asking if the designs come in adult sizes. They absolutely are not producing them for adults. But if adults can see themselves wearing those designs, they can come over to Sammy B. I don’t have that [laughs]. I have other things in the adult sizes of that mindset and feel.”
Black will be staging her first runway show in a few years on Sept. 12 at 22 Fulton Street and will launch a higher-end contemporary line called Samantha Black. Like the Claudie doll, the new collection is geared to push Black excellence as much as possible, the designer said. The show will include a livestreaming event with Live Rocket Studios that will feature a buy-now item from the new label.
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