http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42595605/
The proportions on this model do not look accurate. It is more of an artistic sculpture than a scientific representation. I spent a few months researching Barbie for my novel, My Life According to Barbie, and Barbie is not meant to be a scale model of a woman NAKED. She is roughly 1/6 the size of a (tall) woman. Unfortunately, Mattel clothing designers cannot make silk, denim, cotton, and other fabrics 1/6 their thickness. Imagine if Barbs had a more realistic body while naked and then we dressed her in a skirt, a blouse, a belt, a fitted jacket, all that fabric would make her midsection stick out past her boobs. Barbs needs the measurements to balance out while dressed. (Though she still has a hot body fully dressed.)
