Barbie will now come in curvy, petite and tall sizes

She’s created to be one size, so that all the clothes and shoes Mattel make fit her, and to make it easy for kids to change her clothes and shoes.

Everything else in the Barbie toy line has easily adapted and kept up with the times, so there’s really no reason why the doll itself couldn’t until now. And, to be sure, it’s also a bid to boost sales at a pivotal moment for the toymaking giant.

In 1980, Mattel marketed Black Barbie, who had an afro-style hair-do.

“This is radical because we’re saying there isn’t this narrow standard of beauty of what a lovely body looks like”, said Mattel’s senior director of product design Robert Best in a video released by Mattel on January 28.

These girls ended up wanting a thinner body than did girls not exposed to the doll.

As one girl in the advert says: “I like ’em because this one looks like me and this one looks like my mom”.

“These new dolls represent a line that is more reflective of the world girls see around them”, she said in a Thursday statement. CNN.com reports some of the new dolls will be in stores March 1.

Barbie has always been known for her unrealistic proportions. Barbie’s new curves are shown in shadow on the cover, next to the headline, “Now can we stop talking about my body?”

“I think the use of the word “curvy” is misguided”, he said. “And it should help them”.

Quiana Agbai, an African-American mother of two who has written about “the effects of dolls not looking like my 5-year-old daughter” on her blog, http://www.harlemlovebirds.com, said Barbie’s new look is “a step in the right direction” but noted that “there are brands already filling this need in greater detail”.

The new doll will roll out globally after that. How can Barbie be relatable if she doesn’t look like a typical woman? Disney took that business to toymaking rival Hasbro, leaving Mattel without one of its key cash cows. “And she’s had many bodies over the years, ones that are poseable, ones that are cut for princess cuts, ones that are more realistic”, she said to Fast Company. Barbie remains one of the best-selling dolls in the world, but sales have been soft recently.

The new looks are part of the Barbie Fashionistas line, which made waves a year ago with its first line of ethnically diverse dolls.