Bratz Dolls are some of the most popular toys for little girls. Running with the slogan “Girls with a Passion for Fashion”, these dolls are marketed to relate to little kids, creating in their young minds the fantasy of living and looking like a doll.
With their exaggerated bodily proportions and full-on makeup — large eyes heavily colored with eyeshadow, plump lips streaked with dark lipstick, eyebrows meticulously plucked and lined — these dolls look nothing like the nine- and ten-year-olds that tote them around.
But one Australian mom decided to change all that. Sonia Singh, a trained scientist, “rescues” and “rehabilitates” Bratz and other dolls and gives them much-needed make-unders.
Singh’s project, called Tree Change Dolls, hopes to encourage toy manufacturers to forego the fishnet stockings and five-inch heels.
Using dolls bought from thrift shops, Singh removes their overly-dolled up faces with regular nail polish. Then she paints new features over the bare faces.
The results are nothing short of dramatic.
Singh’s mom, whom she calls “an expert knitter”, makes tiny clothes for the dolls to wear.
Singh said that this started out as a hobby, but after much prodding from her husband, she put up pictures of the dolls on her Facebook account.
She had the dolls pose in her garden, doing activities that kids would normally do…
… Like playing on a tire swing, or having a campfire with friends.
Singh has since received emails from people all over the world requesting to purchase some of her upcycled creations.
She was inundated with orders. “There were only twelve of them,” she said with a laugh.
