I've been thinking a lot, I've done a lot of posts about collectors edition Barbies wherein I have mentioned certain designers, or even mentioned how certain designers have really distinctive styles, but I haven't ever gone into particular detail about the people behind the Barbies.
So... this post is about Angel Kent.
Angel Kent is a Mattel designer I've mentioned a few times on the blog so far; for example, in conjunction with his having designed the Pink Premiere Barbie or the 2023 NBDCC doll, Winter Fantasy.
One of his more interesting design credits was for the Flight of Fashion doll.
A little backstory on this doll; in 2019, Mattel did a Doll Design Showdown, where fans voted on four design concepts, then two. Flight of Fashion was the final winner. You might be thinking that this was pitting four designers against each other for an opportunity to be recognized - but no. All four designs were Angel Kent.
A Q&A explained that this was to bring light to Kent as a "previously unheralded creative" and gave him the opportunity to share his story.
In that Q&A he explained that he had interned with Mattel in 2016 and officially joined them as a designer in 2017, working on projects such as the Dreamtopia Colour Magic Mermaid.
Appropriate, because apparently his childhood favourite Barbie was a mermaid too.
