Barbie has seen her fair share of competitors over the years. Many attempted to challenge the iconic doll's beauty standards — with varying results.

• Mattel's Barbie remains the dominant force in the doll market.
• However, dolls over the years have sought to challenge that.

In the doll market, Barbie reigns supreme.

After over 60 years of Dream Houses, hot pink convertibles, and billions of dolls sold, Barbie and her signature pink style are once again the center of attention due to the popularity of Greta Gerwig's blockbuster hit "Barbie."

Although, Barbiemania never disappeared — she is the number one-selling doll in the world. In 2021, Mattel sold 86 million Barbies, though the doll was never without controversy. The uber-skinny, blonde white doll, unrepresentative of most people playing with her, has garnered criticism over the years.

"Everyone knows the real Barbie is the blonde, white one," Elizabeth Chin, an anthropologist and professor at the ArtCenter College of Design, told Smithsonian Magazine.

To combat this over the years, dolls have popped up to challenge the unrealistic beauty standards and gender stereotypes that critics believed Barbie encouraged.

Take, for example, the Sindy doll, introduced in 1963 by Pedigree Dolls & Toys Ltd. as a British counterpart to the American Barbie. Although she never eclipsed Barbie's popularity, the doll became known as the "the brave British anti-Barbie."

Sindy was still white, skinny, and blonde but sported a simple bob and a fuller figure. Christina Paul, editor of the member's magazine for the Doll Club of Great Britain, told The Washington Post that, unlike Barbie, Sindy was meant to represent the relatable "girl next door."

Probably the most famous example of a brand that tried to take on Barbie's lack of diversity and became a formidable competitor was Bratz. Designed by Carter Bryant and launched by MGA Entertainment in 2001, Bratz dolls were marketed as Barbie's ethnically ambiguous, diverse counterpart. The dolls often featured style aesthetics associated with communities of color.

Like Barbie, Bratz dolls are also having a significant Gen Z moment as Y2K fashion makes a comeback.

The two companies had been entwined in a years-long feud after Mattel, Barbie's owner, sued MGA, claiming they stole their designs.

In recent years, however, the Barbie brand has taken strides in improving its diversity, especially after a slump in sales forced the company to rethink its image.

"Barbie was seen as too perfect and aspirational," Lisa McKnight, global head of Mattel's doll portfolio, told Insider. "We needed to show her vulnerability.

In 2016, Mattel introduced a diverse range of Barbies, including curvy, petite, and tall variations, and over the years, has introduced dolls with hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, and various skin conditions, Insider's Grace Dean reported. Earlier this year, Mattel introduced a Barbie representing a person with Down syndrome.

"Right now when you say 'Barbie' to someone, a very clear image of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, slim doll comes to mind," Kim Culmone, global head of design at Barbie, told The Telegraph in 2016. "In a few years, this will no longer be the case."