My good friend Barbie keeps it chic, and looks all the more fabulous for it...

When I was a wee girl I was a Barbie freak, despite the fact that I could never possibly ever look like one. She was a great friend however, and we spent many a lazy afternoon just hanging in my room trying on outfits. Many, many years on I have been lucky enough to be sent one of the new collector’s edition Barbies, from the Barbie Basics collection. Barbie Basics is apparently all about “permission to play” (like I ever needed one) and each doll is stylishly togged out in the fashion staple most commonly known as the Little Black Dress. The idea is to break her out of the box and customize her style to make her your own, and the twelve gals in the collection each represent a unique hair style, facial type and skin tone, which is pretty cool. Each doll also sports some seriously gorgeous make up (permanent, of course), which easily translates into “real” life. M.A.C did a collaboration with the slender minx a few years ago in an explosion of pink and lilac that generated some simply fabulous campaign images, but the ladies in this collection are far more subtle and ever so elegant. One sports a red lip worthy of M.A.C’s Russian Red (a favourite matte of mine), whilst another could be rocking the gel eyeliner in Cobalt Clutch from Stila’s own Barbie collection. All have serious lashes going on – I’m thinking Smashbox’s DNA mascara is at work – and one has a pink lip that could be Super from Chanel’s latest Rouge Allure Le Pop-Up collection. At any rate, my good friend Barbie is still looking hot after all these years, and deserves a big round of applause for keeping things chic. Love you, Barbie!