Mod Ken - Part 2

Part 2 

Continuing the series on Ken's mod outfits, let's look at a few more of them, hmm?

In 1969, Ken got 4 new outfits, plus one gift set.  In 1970, he got 6 additional outfits.  He also got a new friend, Brad!  Brad was African American and known as Christie doll's boyfriend.  He came wearing his own unique outfits.  Brad was Mattel's first African American boy doll.

There seems to be some debate over whether Ken's mod PAK items were available during 1970 or only 1971.  Perhaps they came out late in the year for Christmas.  Since they seem kind of scarce, I'm thinking they weren't available for long.  I'll discuss them in a later article.

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Here's a list for you for 1969 - 1970 outfits:

Ken 1969:

-  Breakfast at 7 (#1428)  -  (1969 - 1970)  (See previous article)
-  Rally Gear (#1429)  -  (1969 - 1970)
-  Town Turtle (#1430)  -  (1969 -  1970)
-  Guruvy Formal (#1431)  -  (1969 only)
-  Fabulous Formal Gift Set (#1595)  -  (1969 only)  (Sears Exclusive with Barbie)
-  Talking Ken Original Outfit (#1111)  -  (1969 only)

Ken 1970:

-  Play It Cool! (#1433)  -  (1970 only)
-  Big Business (#1434)  -  (1970 only)
-  Shore Lines (#1435)  -  (1970 only)
-  Bold Gold (#1436)  -   (1970 only)
-  Casual All Stars (#1514)  -  (1970 only)  (Sears Exclusive)  (NOTE:  Some pieces came in several color variations.)
-  Talking Ken Original Outfit (#1111)  -  (1970 only)  (Same stock number as 1969, but different outfit.)
-  Bendleg Ken Original Outfit (#1124)  -  (1970 - 1971)
-  Bendleg  Brad Original Outfit (#1142)  -  (1970 - 1972)
-  Talking Brad Original Outfit (#1114)  -  (1970 - 1973)
-  Red, White, And Wild Gift Set (#1589)  - (1970 only)  (Sears Exclusive)  (NOTE:  Not to be confused with a later 1972 outfit that has the same name)

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ANYWAY:  I'm going to share pictures for as many outfits as I have in my collection!  I'm not going to go in any particular order, sorry.. just whatever outfit I felt like putting on Ken at the time, haha!

Play It Cool! (#1433)

Here's Ken's lovely Play it Cool! (#1433) from 1970.  What a crazy pair of pants, huh?

The pants are made out of a very loose knit that is prone to threads pulling from the weave.  The shirt and socks are a soft knit that tends to get pilly and is also prone to tearing at the seams.  The shirt closes with snap in the back and has raglan sleeves.

The jacket is a very nice, high quality felt-like material which seems to hold up really well.  A really nice imitation of camel hair.

YKK zipper and knit-weave close-up.

The pants have a YKK zipper fly and a hook-and-loop closure.  Here you can see the loose knit close-up.  Mine are pulling a little around the top, probably from aggressive pulling by some kiddo of the past.  These are difficult to get onto Ken's sticky bend-legs, so remember that baby powder if they won't pull on, and avoid rips or damage to the fabric.

The coat is the only tagged piece.

The coat is the only tagged piece.  The little teeny threads that hold down the collar are often found snapped, actually, I accidentally snapped one while I was putting it on Ken doll.  Thankfully, it's a quick-and-easy repair, so don't worry too much about it.

Also, do you notice something above the tag?

Close-up of pull-string hole.

Some people think this is a hole or damage to the outfit, but it's not!  It's a hole for Talking Ken's pull string.  Most Ken outfits from this era have a hole in the back of at least one piece so that the pull-string can be easily accessed while Ken is wearing his clothes.  What a cool idea, huh?  They are very carefully put in, too.  So, if you see one, it's not a flaw.. it's the perfection of Mattel's design on this one. :)

Squishy-style JAPAN dress shoes.

The shoes are squishy-type (and fit nicely over the socks), and they are marked JAPAN. 

Outfit without coat.

Here's Ken wearing the outfit sans coat.  Those are some pants!  These pants were in my collection for a long time when I was a young collector and it took me a long time to identify them.  The print is so large, but trust me, guys really did wear pants like that.

Coat

Here it is with the coat, with my chopstick holding down the collar with the snapped thread.  (Oops!)

A really nice thing about this coat is that the sleeves are generously cut so that the sweater sleeves don't get all wrinkled and bunched-up when you put it on over top.

Play it Cool! as pictured in the Barbie booklets.

Next up, here's Rally Gear (#1429) from 1969 - 1970.

Rally Gear #1429

My outfit isn't in the best of shape.  The jacket is in pretty poor condition and the pants are stained.  The shirt seems to show up way more commonly than either the jacket or pants.

The jacket's collar is folded up, it should be folded down.  It's made out of a faux-leather-like material that doesn't hold up very well.  You can't really tell here, but it is double-breasted and has two rows of buttons.

The pants are a cotton-like fabric with a YKK zipper and hook-and-loop.  The shirt is a nice, crisp high-quality shirting-type fabric with three buttons.  It closes with hook-and-loops.

No socks were included.  The cowboy boots are squishy and should be marked JAPAN, though later boots are nearly identical and may be marked with other country names.  Uhm, I don't think mine are an actual pair since the color isn't the same.

Showing the tag and hole for talking string.

The shirt is the only tagged piece.  As you can see, it has a hole in the back of the neck to accommodate the talking string.  Remember, it's not a flaw, it's a clever design element!

Showing the slit for the talking string in the jacket.

Here's the slit in the back of the jacket for the talking string.  You might think this is a flaw, but it's supposed to be there.

It's a bit difficult to get the jacket over the sleeves of the shirt without wrinkling them something terrible, which is why I haven't put this on a doll for you. 

Booklet picture.

Here's Rally Gear in a Barbie booklet from the era.  See how the jacket is double-breasted with a fold-down collar.  The pockets are real, by the way.  Note the talking ring sticking out of the back.

I hope you enjoyed Part II!  I'll be back with more MOD KEN soon.

Click here for MOD KEN PART 1