Carlyle Nuera’s Instagram post- posted on January 31, 2025.

“It is the L-I-Y-A-H, our Babygirl 🖤

What an honor to have designed the @aaliyah Barbie, for real 🥹. I’ve BEEN a fan, since at least jourrrrneyyyy to the passsssst, okay!!! This is the 1st project as a Barbie designer that really hit that specific era of childhood nostalgia.

We started the process with @radmax6, Aaliyah’s brother Rashad, as our guiding light and stamp of approval at every stage. I sketched out a few early options, but it was on a call with @dleestyle, Aaliyah’s longtime stylist, that we decided on the iconic black leather look from the ‘One In A Million’ music video. I was in awe hearing Derek recall the origins of that look; he styled it from random leather pieces from shops on Christopher St in NY, they glued a glass gem to Aaliyah’s belly button, she wore no jewelry because they were afraid of scratching the car she was laying on top of. I was on that Zoom listening to R&B history first-hand from the creator!

Ya already know it’s a lot of brilliant talent and artistry in the Barbie Dreamhouse, so flowers are in order 💐:
– @kittaya_papaya sculpted Aaliyah Barbie’s face, capturing sweet intensity in her expression
– @aki_jacobson on hair design, the layers were layering and the bangs were swoooped okayy
– @minhtam_ on face design, capturing the specificity of Aaliyah’s eye shape, eyebrow arch, beauty mark at her temple, the subtle tonality of her lip shade
– @caro_cadena68 the queen of our Soft Goods atelier, leading her team to recreate this look in perfect Barbie scale; the princess seams on the vest, the studs sized by the millimeter, the scale of cording for the lace up details
– @aaudreyd on budget and schedule, keeping us on track
– @laydiana.design on packaging design, creating a background that feels like a collage from an Aaliyah fan’s scrapbook
– @elle.oliver.coaching on copywriting, capturing Aaliyah’s achievements but also affection like the nickname ‘babygirl’
– a marketing dream team of @itsme_amyg, @robertvilalta and @cisforcarmyn. It was Carmyn’s idea to use a fisheye lens for photography, to give a 90s Hype Williams vibe
– @jason_tidwell_ on photography, we wanted to recreate the music video and that’s what we did”

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