A doll named Lammily is changing the beauty standards for children.

The doll, created by Mr. Nickolay Lamm, is shorter, more broad, and brunette. Lammily is not like the typical Barbie, who is blonde, tall, and has the features of a model.

“There’s nothing wrong with looking like a supermodel, but I feel if there were also dolls which looked liked typical people as well, then it would be as if the wall of toys is saying, it’s OK to look like a supermodel, and it’s OK
to look like a typical person,” Lamm said.

Lamm himself went through things like insecurities and health problems during his high school years. His experience gave him the perspective he wants Lammily to show to others.

Lamm wanted the doll to encourage people to “define themselves” by what they do rather than by their looks.

Junior Sadie Farrington thinks that Lammily does, or will do, just what Lamm aims for the doll to do.

“I think it’s good (Lammily’s body shape) because it lets young girls set realistic standards and learn to love themselves as a whole,” Farrington said.

Although people may say that it’s what is on the inside that matters, junior Shelby Coates still thinks that the idea of Lammily portraying normality is a great concept.

“They (children) learn to accept everybody,” Coates said.

The doll is not only expected to help an individual’s self-confidence but their views of others, too.

From the first designs of the doll to the final product, it took about a year for Lamm to get the first line of dolls produced. With each little detail came many weeks, or even months, of designing Lammily.

The biggest obstacle was finding a manufacturer willing to give Lamm the opportunity to produce the line of dolls.

Lamm needed to convince the manufacturers that producing 25,000 dolls, a small amount compared to other products that are made in large quantities, was only the start of Lammily.

Now that the doll is being produced, Lammily has an extra feature that can be purchased. The doll has a sticker pack that includes cellulite, stretch marks, freckles, acne, glasses, blushing, adhesives bandages, moles, temporary tattoos, stitches, scrapes and scratches, bruises, a cast, scars, mosquito bites, and grass and dirt stains.

There is also a line of clothing, named “Lammily World of Fashion,” made to show Lammily’s normal, tourist-like looks for different areas of the world. Clothing sets like “Exploring Rio” and “Rocking London” can be found, as can the stickers, on Lammily.com.

According to Lamm, other than the normal physique of the doll, Lammily has hair, hands, and feet that “have realism never seen before in fashion dolls,” a kind and friendly-looking face, and detailed clothing.

“I feel Barbie is a great product. She has done so many things. She’s an inspirational doll. I’m just trying to create an alternative,” Lamm said. “In the toy world, Barbie is a fashion superstar, which is awesome, and Lammily is the typical girl, which is awesome as well.”

To achieve the “normal” look of the doll, Lamm used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get the average American 19-year-old female measurements and turn them into the dimensions of a doll.

Freshman Metéo Booth thinks that the doll can be both a good and bad thing.

“I think that it’s cool. It shows that you can be any shape and size and be accepted for who you are, but I also think that it shows you don’t have to be healthy,” Booth said.

Lamm said the doll could not have portrayed normal any better since he and his mom, who was also one of the designers, worked with the factory engineers to produce the doll.

The name Lammily was created to reflect both Lamm’s name and the help and support of his family.

But if a child does not want the name Lammily, the doll may be renamed at Lammily.com.

“I hope this line of dolls encourages kids and adults to define themselves by what they do rather than what they look like,” Lamm said. “I feel that’s the best recipe for body image issues. When that shift of perspective occurs, I feel it’s the most powerful medicine.”