Celebrating Black History Month: Kitty-Black Perkins
Spartanburg, South Carolina native Kitty Black-Perkins is the designer of Black Barbie and was the Chief Designer of Fashions and Doll Concepts for Mattel’s Barbie line.
Through relentless hard work and talent, she has contributed to Barbie’s 300 million plus fashions.
Growing up, Black-Perkins was pushed to dream big by her loving parents and two art teachers at Carver High School.
After earning her associate degree in fashion design from Los Angeles Trade Technical College in 1971, the determined young woman began designing children’s clothing and sportswear that could be purchased at big retailers such as J.C. Penney, Sears, and Bloomingdale’s.
She also worked for several fashion houses in L.A. including Miss Melinda of California, Debbie Ross, A & O Couture, and others.
In the summer of 1976, opportunity came knocking when Black-Perkins responded to a newspaper ad for a clothes designer. That ad was placed by Mattel, the largest toy company in the world.
During her time at the company, Black-Perkins would go on to produce the First Black Barbie, the first African American doll from Mattel to have the name Barbie and not be a friend of Barbie but Barbie herself.
Black-Perkins 26 year career has earned her many honors. She has received the Chairman’s Award in 1985 and 1987, the highest recognition a Mattel employee can receive.
The toy industry also honored her with their highest achievement award, The Doty Award. She was chosen Woman of the Year honoree at the annual “Woman Keeping the Dream Alive” banquet sponsored by the National Council of Negro Women in 1994.
A special doll, designed by Black-Perkins, was donated to the SC State Museum in May 2001.
More recently, she was inducted into the Black Hall of Fame on July 23, 2001.
Her charitable contributions include donating one-of-a-kind designs to fundraisers, raising over $100,000. She has also volunteered as a guest speaker at numerous Career Day events.
