1974 The Outfits

All outfits from this year were produced in Korea. The Get-Ups ‘N Go and Best Buy Fashions from 1974-1978 were not printed on the reverse. Again, none of these Best Buy Fashions came with shoes, hence no close-ups of them.

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BEST BUY FASHIONS

BEST BUY FASHIONS #7758

As well as the variation colour sweater, this outfit also came with trousers in various shades of brown.

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7759

The version of this shirt with a sewn-on red tie confused me for many years, as it simply didn’t fit with this outfit. The puzzle was solved when I discovered this ultra-rare KEN CASUAL ALL STARS set, which was sold exclusively by Sears c.1974. More photos of this set can be seen here.

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7760

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7761

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7762

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7763

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SEARS EXCLUSIVE BEST BUY FASHIONS

The four outfits below are Sears exclusives. The first three belong to a series sold through the Wish Book as Wardrobe Builders clothing for Barbie and friends. You could also buy them individually, as Best Buy Fashions, in Sears stores. The page below right, from the 1974 Sears store arrangement guide, shows the fourth outfit available. I have never seen it MOC, so can only guess that the code number could be #7872 (referenced on page).

BEST BUY FASHIONS #7869

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7870

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BEST BUY FASHIONS #7871

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BEST BUY FASHIONS (#7872?)

As with the red check trousers from #7871, these trousers are fully elasticated with no fly-stitching detail. This is an exceptionally rare Ken fashion, which I’m still yet to find NRFP. If you have this outfit in the original packaging, please send me a photo!: contact@somethingabouttheboy.com.

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GET-UPS ‘N GO / FASHION ORIGINALS

GET-UPS ‘N GO Suited for a handsome groom! / FASHION ORIGINALS #7836

This champagne colour jacket is possibly a variation. The colour is totally even, on front, reverse and inside, even in the sleeves. If it were a blue one which had faded or been sun-bleached, the inside would probably still be blue.

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Pepsi apparently went out of favour shortly after Best Buy Fashions #7761 was produced, so Mattel dyed their stock-pile of Pepsi-print fabric black, and used it for the #7836 tuxedo slacks. It wasn’t used for every pair, but many of them. If you turn the slacks inside-out and have a look under a good light, you can still see the Pepsi-Cola print.

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GET-UPS ‘N GO Tennis gear set to score! / FASHION ORIGINALS #7837

Between 1974 and 1978 the Get-Ups ‘N Go tennis outfit was also sold together with the matching Barbie outfit as an exclusive Montgomery Ward mail order set #7949. They came in a plain brown stamped cardboard box.

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GET-UPS ‘N GO Smoothly styled for business days! / FASHION ORIGINALS #7838

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MONTGOMERY WARD EXCLUSIVE MOD HAIR KEN #7234

There was also a Mod Hair Ken gift set, available exclusively through the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogue from 1974-6. He had his regular stick-on facial-hair sheet, but instead of his usual outfit, he came with the #7836 tuxedo. He was packaged in a plain brown cardboard box. Although not mentioned in the Montgomery Ward catalogue, he appears to have also come with a pair of red shorts, like Sun Set Malibu Ken. Originally-boxed versions which appear for sale online do usually include the shorts.

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BOOKLETS & CATALOGUES

I haven’t yet found any US Barbie booklets showing the range for 1974.

Montgomery Ward has the unique Mod Hair Ken set mentioned above, but also three his-n-hers matching outfit sets, which they continued to sell up to 1978: the Get-Ups ‘N Go tennis and airline outfits, and the skiing outfits from the Sun Valley dolls.

The Best Buy Fashions were still given names in Europe, and the Get-Up ‘N Go outfits would have been packaged as Fashion Originals. The Fashion Originals from 1972 were still being sold, now with variation fabrics (see also section 1972 The Outfits).