Guo Pei's world-famous Yellow Queen dress inspires new collaboration with Barbie

You may know that this dress was part of a collection called One Thousand and Two Nights. And you may even know that it was added as a solo exhibit at a prominent fashion museum in 2017. But if there was one place you saw it before, it was in 2015, when it made fashion headlines around the world.

Known as the "Yellow Queen" or the "Empress's Yellow Dress," this immaculate design by renowned Chinese couturier Guo Pei is aptly named. It requires a noble combination of charm, strength and responsibility to wear it in real life. So when it came to creating a doll-sized version, choosing Barbie to wear it was a perfect match.

Guo Pei Barbie Doll Wearing Golden-Yellow Crown is a Mattel Creations exclusive and a Platinum Label doll. It is now available in the online store, with a limit of one doll per person.

Recalling the dress's red carpet debut, senior packaging designer Joyce Chen recalls that she was “absolutely stunned by [the] stunning yellow dress. It was such an iconic look that she had everyone talking! Definitely one of the best looks of the night.”

Inspired by that style and designed especially for her, Barbie doll's dress surprises with a golden yellow color that was once reserved for Chinese nobility. Guo strives to capture the strength and confidence of women, which Barbie doll exudes in this stunning brocade dress with delicate embroidered details and faux fur trim.

Guo is well known for her signature royal embroidery craftsmanship, and this dress is no exception. So we asked Joyce how Barbie Signature translates such a complex design into a doll-sized outfit.

“The Guo Pei team first sent us a detailed sketch of the embroidery itself, and our graphic design and textile teams worked together to resize the artwork to doll size,” Joyce reveals. “We were able to recreate the look by using embroidery around the edges of the dress and an applique running down the back, giving the dress more dimension.”

A dress like this requires equally stunning accessories and styling to complement the fashion, and Barbie doll projects regal elegance with a striking gold headdress adorned in her beautiful upswept hair and gold accessories. “I love the gold headdress that wraps around the front of the doll's head; it really gives her the look of a queen,” says Joyce. “Also, take note of all the bows on the sleeves and back of the dress, which mimic the real-life look. There are so many beautiful details in this doll!”

We're also going to need a minute to talk about high fashion footwear. “The shoes are a masterpiece in themselves,” Joyce adds. “I was surprised by the unique design of it when Guo Pei's team sent us the photo for reference. Our sculptor did a phenomenal job recreating them at doll scale and keeping all the little intricate details!”

Now that she's seen pictures of the dress, you might be wondering: how the heck did we get it into a doll box? Luckily, we have senior packaging designer Laydiana Chiv and senior packaging engineer Kambiz Betaharon on the case. “Working closely with Kambiz, a very talented structural engineer, I was confident that we would find a way to be able to package and display the doll and dress without losing all the details and length of the dress,” says Laydiana. “Kambiz had the great idea of tilting the wrist so that the dress was lightly draped and showed off all the beautiful embroidery and faux fur details on the back of the dress. It looks like he's walking the red carpet, standing right in front of the stairs with her beautiful dress spread out behind her for everyone to see. “It’s perfect paparazzi time!”

We were really impressed by the structure of the presentation, and equally by the way they brought the design elements of the doll to the doll box. “For the outside of the package, we wanted it to reflect the golden yellow of the dress, so we chose the intricate embroidery and wrapped it completely,” explains Laydiana. “It's a big part of Guo Pei's identity and we wanted it to be reflected. Then we added some luxury finishes: embossing and gold foil. For the interior, we decided to let the doll and dress shine by giving it a contrasting red lining: which is also an Easter egg for the iconic red carpet moment. And as a final touch, we added a gold bow to tie everything together.”

And now that Joyce and Laydiana have put everything about this doll together for you, it's time to stop reading and head to the online store. Get the Mattel Creations exclusive Guo Pei Barbie doll with golden yellow crown for your collection today!