Barbara Millicent Roberts, or more popularly known to the world as "Barbie", was introduced at the American Toy Fair in New York City in February 1959 by Ruth and Elliot Handler, founders of Mattel Toys. Ruth initially came up with the idea while her daughter Barbara was playing with paper dolls. She realized that as her daughter grew and began to imitate adult conversations and the world around her, she also needed a three-dimensional representation of it. She shared her idea for a female doll for children with her husband and Mattel's all-male management team, but they refused, saying it would be too expensive to produce and would have little appeal to the American public. In 1956, while touring Europe, Ruth came across a relatively popular "adult doll", the Lady doll. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character who appeared in a German comic book. The full-sized Lady doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. He gave one to his daughter and took the others back to Mattel. Ultimately, Ruth convinced the team to try developing this adult doll for children. Mattel has acquired the rights to the Lilli doll. A new body/mold was designed, a new concept was created (innocent, all-American image), and the doll was given a new name: Barbie, in honor of Handler's daughter, Barbara. white "zebra" swimsuit and ponytail with tightly curled bangs. The dolls were available both blonde and brunette. She was introduced as a "teenage model". She had her own clothing line specially designed by the Matell team (Charlotte Johnson). They created a wardrobe from which each child could choose an outfit to create their own personality for Barbie; therefore they had to develop fashions to coordinate with society's expectations and aspirations. Barbie wasn't a success at first. During and after the New York Toy Show, sales were still not what Mattel had expected. Most buyers, accustomed to dolls, did not like Barbie's new adult look. When Barbie was conceived and launched, the doll segment of the toy market was dominated by other companies (Vogue Dolls and Ideal Toy & Novelty Corporation). To deal with these two strong competitors and the problem of the adult look, Mattel commissioned a toy study by Ernest Ditcher, a famous marketing man of the time.