In 2009, Mattel launched the So in Style doll line, said to be a spiritual successor to the Shani line from decades prior, as the line had a similar goal, of featuring exclusively black characters with ethnically correct facial features and fashion. Stacey McBride-Irby, designer of So in Style, was directly inspired by the Shani line for the new Afrocentric doll line. Just like with Shani, So in Style (also abbreviated as S.I.S) debuted completely independently from the Barbie line with its own characters. The line debuted with 4 main characters, Grace, Kara, Trichelle, and Chandra, all with their own unique face sculpt and skin-tone. When this line was also eventually discontinued, So in Style was retconned into the Barbie line as Barbie's friends, becoming a part of the Barbie line canonically.
