Bratz is fashionable.
Under the creative direction of Cult Gaia founder Jasmin Larian, Bratz has inked several fashion collaborations, including with Dolls Kill, Puma and Cult Gaia, who are preparing the fashion dolls of the early 2000s for a modern comeback.
Under Larian’s guidance, Bratz has revamped its entire fashion and pop culture presence, including branding and social media. It is currently the most followed doll brand on TikTok, Gen Z’s favorite social platform.
Last fall, the fashion doll company went viral on TikTok when it encouraged Bratz dolls to recreate scary movie scenes in time for Halloween, including Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried in the cult classic “Jennifer’s Body” and Drew Barrymore in “Scream”.
The following month, she turned the iconic “Jingle Bell Rock” dance snippet from “Mean Girls” into Bratz, starring the line’s original doll releases: Chloe, Yasmin, Jade and Sasha, to promote her collection with Makeup Revolution.
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♬ original sound – bratz
His comeback comes as Y2K trends continue their resurgence, dominating fashion and culture.
Bratz is tapping into people’s desire for nostalgia, said Larian, who was the inspiration for the Yasmin doll. His father, Isaac Larian, is the founder and CEO of MGA Entertainment, the maker of Bratz.
“Fans have grown up and are now doing the things they dreamed of doing through dolls,” Larian told WWD. “[Bratz] Reinforced imagination and passion for fashion, creativity, going against the grain, being outside the box, almost like renegades. She was the voice of a generation that can now act on who they are and be in the world based on what the Bratz dolls inspired them to be.”
Bratz has always strayed from the conventional path and helped pave the way for more diversity in toys. When most dolls were blonde, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed, the first line of Bratz dolls had different skin tones, hair colors, and eye shapes. The dolls were well known for their disproportionately large heads and full lips.
“It really changed what people saw in the toy aisle. Being able to relate to the different skin tones of these dolls was huge,” said Larian. “What my dad has always said is, ‘You don’t have to be a specific breed. Yasmin may be Persian. She may also be Hispanic. It can be whatever the person who wants that doll looks like. That is the beauty of Bratz. It’s this commitment to diversity, but not just to be diverse, it’s just who we are. It’s built into the brand.”
When the original Bratz Pack was released, some retailers said they only wanted to buy Chloe, the blonde with blue eyes, one of the four dolls. But according to Larian, she and the rest of the MGA Entertainment team refused.
“One of the basic principles of the brand is that these dolls are a package. Originally, it was called the Bratz Pack, and they are friends,” Larian said. “What we told these retailers was, ‘No, they come in boxes with all the dolls. You have to buy everything or you won’t get anything.’”
For the dolls’ 20th anniversary in 2021, Bratz released the “20 Year Special Edition” of its four original dolls, through popular retailers including Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
Furthermore, 2021 was also the year that the brand consolidated its presence in the fashion world, with multiple collaborations with high-end brands like Cult Gaia and GCDS with Y2K style trends: chunky shoes, crop tops and butterfly motifs.
“Bratz always wore cool stuff,” Larian said. “I remember when he was a child, when he played with the dolls and helped with them, the detail that was put into each piece had not been seen before. He made you aspire to flaunt these fashions, and the people who grew up with them now have their own lines.”
“We’re definitely also looking at this year 2000 comeback, which I definitely think was part of the height of Bratz, but it’s not just what Bratz is about, it intersperses the branding in a way,” he said.
For Larian, her involvement with Bratz was one of several inspiration points that led her to start her own fashion brand, Cult Gaia, in 2012. The brand initially became known for her signature Ark Bag, which was popular on Instagram, before became the popular beachwear line we know today.
“I always knew before Bratz that I would do fashion. My mom was a fashion designer, but I think I learned about building products and brands almost by osmosis, just being so exposed,” she said.
In March, Larian brought their two worlds together to create a collaboration between Bratz and Cult Gaia, complete with bright colors, bejeweled accessories, and snakeskin-like patterns.
The Bratz TikTok page includes a variety of real-life and animated videos of the dolls in certain settings or even throwback content from the brand’s past video games, including the Tweevil Twins, Kirstee, and Kaycee.
In April, the brand relaunched its Sweet Heart Meygan doll at Amazon, Target and Walmart. Bratz promoted it with a TikTok video showing Meygan pulling the “Love Meter” machine to see which characters from the world of Bratz are compatible. One of the couples included a same-sex couple, which was widely praised by Bratz fans.
Recently, the Bratz released their first Pride 2-Pack dolls, which consisted of a pair of Roxxi and Nevra. The release was a collaboration with Amsterdam-based fashion label JimmyPaul, featuring bright, colorful hues inspired by the official Pride flag and celebrating queer history and love.
“With Bratz, we can now speak to our core fanbase and are unapologetic about our community, standing up for their rights, having a voice and being super authentic,” Larian said. “There’s an authenticity to Bratz that you really can’t find anywhere else. For me, that is the most important thing about a brand: this feeling and this truth of authenticity”.
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Source: wwd.com