Dream Makeover: Smith gives new life to Barbie dolls through restorations

Jul. 22—Barbie has been known for her iconic sense of style through the years, and Owensboro resident Derrick Smith has continued that tradition himself by restoring some of the older dolls in the toy line.

"Some of the dolls are really old and dirty and people are probably ready to throw them in the trash can," Smith said. "I feel like I can get them and make them new again."

Smith has been restoring Barbie dolls for a little over a year, but before that, he made custom action figures.

"I switched over to this because I saw there was a market for it, and I was burned out on making the action figures," he said. "I've made thousands of custom action figures."

Smith's takes on the Barbie dolls range, with some of the more unique ones including drag queens.

"It's something different and not something you see all the time," he said. "I've made zombie and horror dolls. Just a combination of everything."

Restoring the dolls takes Smith approximately four hours from start to finish.

"I'm one of those people that when I start something, I have to finish it before going to sleep," he said. "It doesn't really take long, but there are times where I will find damages I couldn't see before I started."

Smith, who works as a stylist at Southern Styles, said his position has helped him with the restorations.

"The funny thing is I have not done a perm on a human in 10 years, but on Barbies, I do them almost every time I work on them," he said.

Working on Barbie hair is easier, too, Smith said.

"You have to know how much hair to use, which I know how to do that from this job," he said. "There's different types of hair and sometimes it will be too curly or sit off of the scalp too much, but it's not awful."

Smith sells his restored Barbie dolls on Etsy under the name TheHaPpYSHACKkitsch.

"It's been going really well," he said. "A lot of what I have on there are vintage Barbies and I sell a lot of customs."

While Smith offers custom Barbie doll restorations, he tries not to do too many.

"It takes away from being a hobby and makes it more of a job," he said.

The Washington Post contacted Smith through Etsy and ordered one of the drag queen Barbie dolls.

"Out of the over one hundred Barbies I've worked on, I have made two drag queen dolls and that's what got me in (The Washington Post)," he said.

The Barbie was featured in a photoshoot in The Washington Post for an article about different types of Barbie dolls.

With the release of the "Barbie" movie this weekend, Smith said he's received more orders than in the past.

"People are going more for the dolls that are nostalgic from certain time periods like 'Dream Dates,' " he said. "Margot Robbie has been dressing up as these different characters so the characters I have of those have definitely been selling."

Smith never imagined the restored dolls gaining the traction they have.

"You see videos online of people doing those types of things and people have asked me to make tutorials," he said.