The Marvelous World of Shani

The Marvelous World Of Shani, also known as just Shani is a line of dolls released by the American toy company Mattel in 1991. The line is a spinoff of Barbie, designed by Principal Designer Kitty Black-Perkins, more famously known for designing 1980’s Black Barbie. The line was made up of exclusively black characters, with an emphasis on the doll’s afro-centric facial features, and their varied skin tones and hair textures. The line was created address the criticism that the Barbie line was not diverse enough, and that Black Barbies had too many euro-centric features. The line would last until 1993, when it was discontinued after just four waves. The Shani doll line paved the way for a few different Barbie spin-offs, including Asha African American Collection, and notably Barbie So In Style, which released in 2009.