Barbie's Body Type Changes: Mattel's Iconic Doll Now Available in Tall, Petite and Curvy

After 57 years of pushing forward impossible body types for little girls everywhere, the most famous doll in the world, Mattel's Barbie is getting a makeover. The company has just announced that the most professionally prolific lady in the world will no longer be the impossibly thin doll every girl grew up in. Now, she'll come in three more body types: tall, petite and curvy!

The new announcement was made through Time magazine, as Mattel introduced the three new body types and, in all, 23 new dolls in their line of Fashionistas. Varying amount of body fat isn't the only change in the new Barbie dolls: hair and skin colors have also gotten much more varied.

There are even Barbies with flat shoes in this new edition, so the doll can finally rest her feet after almost six decades.

We proudly add three new body types to our line. Meet the new dolls. https://t.co/JDeqzI59nX #TheDollEvolves pic.twitter.com/IJVcVhfPkL

— Barbie (@Barbie) January 28, 2016

The new Barbie figures were developed at Mattel for a long time, in a heavily guarded project codenamed Dawn, and they're even prepping up for possible controversy. Just ahead of the official launch of these new diverse Barbie dolls, the company is also "setting up a separate help line just to deal with Project Dawn complaints." The Mattel team behind the whole thing even discussed the terminology for months, finally settling on tall, petite and curvy.

Because of the heavy secrecy surrounding the project, retailers weren't let known about the new Barbie figures, so for now, the new dolls will only be available on Barbie.com, until Mattel can settle with stores to make more room for the new line.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Mattel's motives were not 100 percent focused on inclusion. Over the past four quarters, global sales of Barbie dolls have gone down 14 percent from the previous four quarters, while the company's sales dropped 6.2 percent altogether, as moms picked toys that were perhaps more suitable to fulfill their daughter's expectations. Still, the result is astonishing, as the most famous doll in the world now looks more like the moms, aunts and teachers of the girls that play with it!