By Allen Voivod

his may be Barbie® doll's 50th anniversary, but even with so much history behind this beauty, there's still more excitement to come!

This year marks the debut of an all African-American doll line from Mattel, So In Style™. And not only are the dolls a sassy 'n positive addition to the 2009 doll line, their story is tied directly to world of Barbie®.

As told by designer Stacey McBride-Irby, the So In Style™ story revolves around Grace™, who was friends with Barbie® in Malibu before moving away to Chicago, where she met Trichelle™ and Kara™, her new BFFs. There, they began to mentor young girls in their community - Courtney®, Janessa™, and Kianna®.

"I want them to be examples to real girls," says McBride-Irby, "but I wanted to make sure they had an aspirational theme also, that moms will hone in on." Each pair comes with accessories that reflect their interests - math and music, drill team and science, art and journalism.

The dolls also feature a number of innovations unique to the So In Style™ Line:

New skin tones: "What we see on the outside world, I wanted to put into these dolls," McBride-Irby says, and the So In Style™ line fulfills her intentions with a variety of natural skin tones.

New hair: Grace™, Trichelle™ and Kara™ each feature Aqua Curl hair, which lets girls (or de-boxing collectors!) straighten or curl the dolls' hair with a mist of water.

New body sculpts: The waistlines of "little sisters" Courtney®, Janessa™, and Kianna® are longer than similar Kelly® dolls, so they can more naturally hold hands with "big sisters" Grace™, Trichelle™ and Kara™.

Funky, authentic, sassy, 'n girly — that's So In Style™. Get the whole line in the shop today! And check out the fab and fun So In Style™ section on Barbie.com where you can learn about the dolls, play a groovy game, and celebrate stylish sisterhood!