Barbie Fashionista Finds Her New Career

For 18 years, Pamela Thompson worked as a fashion designer in New York for big name labels such as Betsy Johnson, Anna Sui and Heatherette.

“It was a dream come true,” she said. But when it came time to start a family a couple of years ago, the Wilmette native wanted to be closer to home and landed in Deerfield.

Once settled into her new lifestyle as a stay-at-home mom, Thompson decided not working was not possible.

“My job has always been a huge passion and something that I felt that I had to do. It wasn’t something that I chose to do,” Thomson explained.

She said she realized she needed to come up with a different game plan since there weren’t as many fashion opportunities in the Chicago area. Her daughter, Lily, would end up being the inspiration she needed to get started.

Last July, Thompson launched tinyfrockshop.com, an online store where shoppers can buy resale clothing and accessories for Barbie. She came up with the idea after introducing Lily to her collection of dolls.

“I pulled out my old Barbies and started playing,” Thompson said in recalling her next thought. “Wait, this is fun, I’ve got to get more clothes.”

Ever since, she has been purchasing clothes from estate sales or sites like eBay, fixing them back up and then selling the repaired doll apparel to other people.

“It’s literally me sitting on the couch, by hand, sewing everything,” Thompson said about some of the pieces she receives with holes and broken zippers from the 1960s.

Despite some of the extensive repairs, she still tries to keep the prices extremely low. Items range from $1 to $28, depending on what she sees fit.

“What’s valuable to me is whether I think it’s fabulous, not whether it is really worth money,” said Thompson, who enjoys being in charge of her business fate this time around.

“I’m going to make my own stylized outfits, sell them, rename them, whatever I want, give them my own story,” and then let others enjoy shopping for them like they would in a normal store, she added.  

“It’s run as a tongue-and-cheek look at the fashion industry, the way it’s actually run,” Thompson said about the website, which features profiles on the models, a look at Barbie’s stylists and behind the scene pictures of Barbie at photo shoots taken by Ken of course.

“It’s basically like working with a fashion staff that doesn’t talk back to me which is unusual,” she said.

The business venture makes for a perfect mix between her old designing days in New York and her new priorities as a mom. With Lily acting as the companies CEO, Thompson has gotten to introduce her daughter to her passion and hopes to create similar experiences for other moms and their children.

“My big dream was to have mom and daughter or son---whoever is interested in Barbie---sit in front of the computer and shop together and learn about fashion together,” Thompson said.