Spencer was born in 1932; until she was three, when her father died, the family lived in Texas.[1][2] She was raised in Minneapolis; whie she was still in school, her mother also died.[1][3] As a child she made outfits for paper dolls and then, learning from her grandmother, clothing for herself.[1][4]
After graduating from college she went to work in New York City for Mademoiselle.[1] She moved back to Minneapolis to design for Wonderalls, a children's clothing manufacturer.[1] She moved to Milwaukee to work designing sportswear.[1]
Barbie career
In 1963 she responded to a blind classified advertisement for a "cost-conscious fashion designer". The employer turned out to be Mattel, and the work was designing clothing for Barbie.[1] As part of the interview process she created several outfits and was hired to work with Ruth Handler and Charlotte Johnson.[1] From then until her retirement in1999 she designed exclusively for Barbie and other Barbie-universe dolls such as Chelsea, Ken, and Skipper.[1][6] Because Mattel did not put designers' names on packaging until the mid-1990s, most of her work was uncredited.[1] Her first credited design was Benefit Ball Barbie, which was the first Barbie Mattel gave a credit to.[4] She is the only designer to have her name printed on a doll, the 1996 Golden Jubilee Barbie.[5]
Spencer also designed some of the dolls themselves, including 1992's Totally Hair Barbie and Barbie's poodle, which Spencer modeled on her own dog.[6] She designed Surgeon Barbie after having a biopsy and noticing all the physicians were men.[3] She based some designs on her own clothing and accessories.
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