• Posted May 16, 2025

Barbie's Feet Have Changed With The Times

FRIDAY, May 16, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Barbie’s arched feet became something of a statement on female empowerment in her 2023 movie.

Her feet initially remained arched even when she stepped out of high heels, but to Barbie's horror fell flat as she started to think about weighty subjects like death, cold showers, burnt waffles and sour milk.

It’s all played for laughs, but the movie actually reflects how Barbie’s foot posture has changed with the times, according to a new study in the journal PLOS One. (Its title: "Flat out Fabulous: How Barbie's foot posture and occupations have changed over the decades, and the lessons we can learn.")

All Barbies had that high-heel foot posture when she made her debut in 1959, but only 40% of the dolls are now made that way, researchers found.

Further, the Barbies with flat feet tend to be the ones that reflect her move into careers like teaching, medicine, engineering, science and the military, researchers found. Barbies with that distinctive arch tend to be focused on fashion.

“Barbie models her footwear choice based on task demands, being flat footed and wearing flat shoes when she needs to work on her feet, be physically active or more stable,” wrote the research team led by Cylie Williams, a professor of podiatry at Monash University in Australia.

“Given Barbie is known to reflect societal norms, we contend this is most likely true for most high-heel wearers,” the researchers continued. “While Barbie has moved with the times, it appears footwear health messaging about high heel wearing needs to catch up.”

Just how might that messaging shift?

“That is, laying off on the potential doom and gloom public health messaging of wearing high heels and what they might (but might not) do to the body,” researchers wrote. “Instead, trusting that most high-heel wearers, predominantly women, will pick footwear based on task demands.”

For the study, researchers recruited 2,750 Barbies and friends who lived in Barbie Land between 1959 to June 2024.

The study grew out of a group chat between Williams and other podiatrists in Melbourne, Australia.

“We were talking about how nice it was to finally see Barbie in flat shoes and to see Barbie making all of these different shoe choices based on what she had to do in her day,” Williams told The New York Times.

The researchers came up with a metric to track Barbie foot changes over time — foot posture, equity, employment and time or F.E.E.T.

The strongest link between a Barbie’s foot posture came with the job she has, results show, followed by the date of each doll’s release.

“The very strong correlation between flat foot posture and employment sits well with evidence observing Barbie ‘evolving’ away from prioritizing fashion over her career,” researchers wrote. 

“Just as her facial features and body shape have changed over time, her expanding workforce roles create a requirement for prolonged standing, increased walking speed, and greater postural stability,” the paper continued. “As a role model to many young people, it is encouraging to see Barbie making foot posture and footwear choices that best enable her participation in employment and physical activity.”

To maintain their scientific independence, researchers didn’t contact Mattel to find out if the changes in Barbie’s feet reflected any conscious executive decision-making.

But in a statement e-mailed to The Times, the company confirmed that the foot designs were deliberate, “with reimagined footwear options to support Barbie’s bold steps forward.”

Researchers also found that physical disabilities didn’t necessarily preclude Barbie from being a fashionista.

“While the increase in Barbie’s use of assistive technology was minimal, Barbie in her wheelchair was still rocking killer heels … while those with an above knee amputation had a flat foot posture,” researchers noted.

More information

Hartford HealthCare has more on high heels and foot health.

SOURCES: PLOS One, May 14, 2025; The New York Times, May 14, 2025