The Estate of Marilyn Monroe Helped Mattel Design Barbie Doll for the Legend’s 100th Birthday
The toy company has designed seven dolls in the Hollywood icon’s image.
By Sophie Dunne
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Sophie Dunne
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August 18, 2026 9:10am
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Mattel is celebrating Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday with a new Barbie doll inspired by the iconic pink dress the actress wore in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The seventh Barbie designed in Monroe’s likeness re-creates her glamorous look from the film’s famous “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” musical number — although it’s not the first time Mattel has brought this particular look to Barbie collectors.
In 1997, the company released a Marilyn Monroe doll wearing a baby pink satin gown as part of its Hollywood Legends Collection. This time around, the Marilyn Monroe Barbie Signature Doll wears a hot pink gown and more bedazzling jewelry. Available to buy online on Aug. 18 and developed with input from The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC, the Barbie doll is aimed at collectors as much as Monroe fans and kids.
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centennial celebration
Marilyn Monroe Barbie Signature Doll ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’
Complete with an oversized bow at the back of the dress, opera gloves and, of course, sparkling diamonds around her neck, wrists and dripping from her ears.
The Marilyn Monroe Barbie Signature Doll comes two months after the late Hollywood icon’s 100th birthday and two weeks after the 64th anniversary of her death. It’s also the second celeb-Barbie doll Mattel has released this month, with the Whitney Houston Barbie launched on Aug. 8.
Mattel’s new product is just one of many ways Monroe’s birthday is being celebrated this summer. In Palm Springs, over 1,000 fans dressed as Monroe in her white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch to celebrate her birthday, set a new Guinness World Record and raise money for LGBTQ+ charities.
In Los Angeles, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is running “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” until February 2027 to honor 100 years since her birth. The Hollywood Reporter was there over the weekend and got to see the legendary “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” pink dress in person.
Sophie Dunne/The Hollywood Reporter
Visiting Monroe’s intimate belongings and movie costumes in this exhibit was a solemn experience as visitors read her personal letters and came face-to-face with furniture the star picked for the home in which she would eventually die. But seeing the original dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in particular, felt like walking into a funeral.
In a dedicated room of its own, the 73-year-old gown designed by William Travilla stood in the middle, while viewers quietly queued to see it in all its glory, pay their respects and leave. In this room off the main gallery, guests lowered their voices to whispers, as though they had entered a place of mourning rather than an exhibition. The dress was no longer simply a costume, but a shell of the famous woman who once wore it.
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