In the early 1960’s a young French artist named Jean-Claude Forest created for his own amusement and that of his friends a light-hearted comic strip with an erotic science-fiction heroine named Barbarella. When it soon became obvious that the creation would appeal to a larger audience, it was published. After becoming popular in France, it was translated into other languages and became equally popular in other European countries and the United States.
This phenomenon attracted both producer Dino De Laurentiis and director Roger Vadim as a promising subject for a film. Although neither knew of the other’s interest in the idea, both men wanted Jane Fonda (who was married to Vadim at the time) to play the title role. Eventually they got together and made ‘Barbarella’ into a light-hearted film.
In 1984, Kim Wilde was launched by her new record company MCA Records with an image, created in collaboration with XL Design, that was soon compared with Barbarella by the press. Photos of this new image were used for the sleeves of the single of The Second Time, but subsequently also for the album Teases & Dares.