::WE GIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING::

One of the most disappointing Christmas presents I ever got was from a distant aunt; she didn't know me very well, so she got me what she assumed every 8-year-old girl would want: a Barbie. While the prospect of having tons of clothes I could coordinate and accessorize with was vaguely appealing, the only thing I ended up doing with the doll was styling her hair, which, along with the manes and tails of My Little Ponies years before, I would braid while in the bathtub, let dry, and then unfurl into uniformly-wavy locks.

Margaux Lange's Plastic Body Series is jewelry made of deconstructed Barbie dolls. Bits of arms, legs, torsos, and faces are pieced together in odd, chimeral, flesh-colored pieces.

There are brooches, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings.

I particularly like the Barbie shoes arranged into a star-like pendant and ring. So, Aunt Margaret, if you're listening, getting those would be okay.

(Don't get me started, though, about a middle-school classmate I had -- also named Summer -- who was rumored to have masturbated with Barbie-doll parts. The depravity!)

(via BoingBoing)