Just as Barbie – the 2023 fantasy film starring Margot Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken – fades from memory, Barbie – the doll – has re-emerged with her own exhibition, to celebrate her 65th anniversary. The Design Museum, in Kensington, London has embraced its inner Barbie with a design-inspired and gloriously commercial show Barbie®: The Exhibition, in partnership with Mattel, the global brand designers and manufacturers of the doll collection. On display in eye-popping room settings designed by Sam Jacobs Studio are over 180 original Barbie dolls, taking the spectator through sixty decades of her existence since she was launched at a toy fair in New York in 1959 as a ‘Teen Age Fashion Doll’.
This is an exhibition for everyone. For older Barbie fans, it may bring back memories of doll collections, role-playing and all the many accessories that seemed essential to owning a Barbie doll – and a male Ken doll, too. For younger fans, it is an opportunity to see many fabulous dolls, and the larger-than-life universe created for a doll with a multifarious lifestyle. Apart from Barbie’s fabulous wardrobe of clothes and accessories, the she has taken on many different life-roles, including doctor, teacher, singer, fashionista, and spacewalker. Her lifestyle and Mattel’s ambitions for her is one to respect.
Initially, this exhibition was to be play-oriented, child-focused but during the three years of preparation by its curator Danielle Thom, it has evolved to concentrate primarily on the design aspect of the doll, and how it has evolved to adjust to trends and popular culture. Tim Marlow, director and CEO of the Design Museum, states that one of the obvious things about Barbie® is its capacity as a toy for reinvention, to reflect the change of styles and taste over 65 years.
Up to 400 items are added to the Barbie brand every year, carefully designed to maintain the core audience of children, and collectors too. There is meticulous attention to design detail, to ensure that the brand remains fresh and desirable. Kim Culmone, Senior Vice-President of Design for Mattel, states that most successful doll brands have a longevity of 3-5 years but Barbie continues to appeal due to the application of design with close attention to trends, whether mainstream or diverse, and the discipline to reflect today’s generation living in a multicultural society.
Of the 250 objects on display that tell the Barbie story, the definitive is the first doll to be seen. It is a rare example of the Barbie brand, the first doll, created in 1959, and the Design Museum has just purchased this doll for its collection. In a glass case it is one of the earliest first editions, known as ‘Number 1 Barbie’. She stands 11.5 inches tall, super slim and hand-painted. She wears a strapless black and white striped swimsuit and holds a pair of late-1950s on-trend white-framed sunglasses. The ensemble reveals her origins as a fashion doll. The gold-blonde hair is worn up, in a ponytail. (A brunette version was available, too) and she wears high-heeled mules on her feet. The Design Museum doll is proven very rare because she has holes in the base of her feet, to fix her to a stand.
Walking through the exhibition is a stroll through a giant toyshop of Barbie design history, complete with dreamhouses, campervans and sports cars. There is a trip to outer space on film with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, the first female commander of the International Space Station. A lookalike Barbie astronaut doll travelled with Cristoforetti on her 170-day mission in April 2022. The inclusion of Barbie was to encourage girls to consider careers as astronauts, scientists and engineers. Cristoforetti was the first European female astronaut to complete a spacewalk, and a 21st-century role-model.
For many the fun will be to spot the influence of different designers and architects, including Frank Gehry and Florence Knoll, in the house and room-set designs, and in special edition high-fashion clothing created by famous designers, including Christian Dior, Oscar de la Renta and Zac Posen, amongst the many who have responded to Barbie’s design invitation as a cultural figurehead. Not to miss is the Talking Barbie prototype, and Totally Hair Barbie, Mattel’s most successful doll of all time; Sunset Malibu Barbie launched in 1971, and Day-to-Night Barbie from 1985.
The supporting cast of unique Mattel Barbies also includes the Barbie taken into outer space by Samantha Cristoforetti, on exhibit for the first time. And, of course, there is an array of Ken dolls, too, immaculately dressed for every occasion. Finally, as a nod to the success of the 2023 film directed by Greta Gerwig, an original costume worn by Margot Robbie is shown.
Younger fans may want to head straight to the Barbie® shop afterwards, which is outside the Design Museum entrance. It’s a Barbie heaven, selling dolls from £16.00 to the most expensive, a 65th anniversary limited edition – Barbie in ultra-fashionable black and white evening dress – at £82.00. And, as to be wished for, loads of predominantly pink Barbie accessories, with notebooks, sticker books, bags and sunglasses, a Barbie flatpack house, and an Advent Calendar too.
Barbie®: The Exhibition runs until 23rd February 2025 at The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG. For more information, please visit designmuseum.org.
Photos by Jo Underhill
