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Meet Nicki and Isabel, American Girl’s new dolls inspired by the 1990s

Meet Nicki and Isabel, American Girl’s new dolls inspired by the 1990s
Posted at 12:05 PM, Feb 24, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-24 13:09:16-05

Prepare to feel extra old today: American Girl released its newest “historical” dolls — Isabel and Nicki, characters inspired by the 1990s. (Yes, those ’90s.)

Isabel and Nicki are the brand’s first-ever twin dolls. From Seattle, the twins bring with them a handful of ’90s trends and pop culture nostalgia as they prepare for the new millennium.

The dolls are dressed in fashion from the era — including plaid skirts, flannel shirts and platform shoes — and come with a mini version of “American Girl” magazine from 1999. To really send the nostalgia into overdrive, you can even buy them a computer that plays actual dial-up sounds with a pretend CD and floppy disk drive.

Fans of Pizza Hut’s Book It! program will delight in another accessory sold separately: an “era-authentic” Pizza Hut Set, complete with a doll-size personal pan pizza and certificate for reading books in the program.

American Girl

While the sisters are fraternal twins, their personalities are quite different. American Girl says that while Isabel is “bubbly, extroverted and loves dancing to pop music,” Nicki is “thoughtful, introverted and happiest while skateboarding, writing lyrics and listening to the alt-rock sound that got its start in Seattle.” The twins share the same “girl-power goal,” however: being true to themselves and learning “to face their fears with confidence.”

The dolls’ stories are written by real-life identical twins Julia DeVillers and Jennifer Roy, who illustrated the journals that come with the dolls and created a full-length novel, which will be released this summer.

“Jennifer and I are both longtime fans of American Girl, which makes our work on this project even more thrilling,” DeVillers said in a press release. “One of our favorite parts was having access to American Girl’s archives, where we reviewed the brand’s ’90s-era materials—from the catalogues and books to past issues of “American Girl” magazine and all the fan mail that came with it. We love thinking about how those readers are grown up now yet helped to inspire Nicki and Isabel.”

American Girl

Other add-on accessories include a tennis court and skate spot and a bedroom set complete with a purple inflatable chair, personal CD player and alarm clock-radio.

If you’d prefer to go back in time just a bit further, you can instead pick up the brand’s Courtney Moore doll, a California girl who grew up in 1986 and comes with  pretend cassette player, tape and headphones, plastic bangles and Lip Smacker lip balm.

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