Atelier Mandaline

  Have you ever heard of Steffi Love and the other Love family dolls? In 1987 Simba Toys of Germany debuted  Steffi, a Barbie clone, and the rest of her family: her boyfriend (also sometimes called her “partner”) Kevin, her little sister, Evi, (also sometimes her daughter) who is a Kelly clone, Pamela, who is a 9 inch Staci clone with the same hinge-jointed knees, but also sometimes just a Steffi doll who is inexplicably called Pamela too, and Timmy, her son. Then there are their friends, 12 inch Danny and 9 inch Bobby. Simba also made various “ethnic” dolls like a Native American family, who are typically small dolls. They did make Steffi as a black doll, but she’s extremely rare. Unlike Barbie, who had had black friends with different names and sometimes face sculpts, black Steffi dolls are still called Steffi and have the same face. I don’t want you to get the idea I am an expert on these dolls. Far from it, I learned everything I know just this week when I came across a black B