Everyone’s got an opinion of Barbie. Whether you adored playing with her growing up, loathed her for her wildly unrealistic body measurements, or came to appreciate her for her cultural impact, there’s no denying the 11.5inch leggy blonde is one of the most famous toys – if not women – on the planet. Now one year after Barbie-mania had London in a chokehold, Barbara Millicent Roberts has once again tottered back into the capital’s collective conscience, this time via a Design Museum exhibition celebrating 65 years of the iconic doll.
The clothes, the handbags, the mansion, the seemingly perfect boyfriend. Barbie has it all. And so does this exhibition. It provides an extensive look into how the toy was designed, how she has evolved over the years, and how she has influenced fashion, design and wider culture. Created in partnership with Mattel, Barbie’s parent company, the show looks at the toy not just as a kicky blonde doll, but as a brand, and from a design angle it can be considered a real success.
In a dark room filled with rainbow-coloured windows we are taken on an odyssey of all of Barbie’s different head and body shapes. I died a little inside learning about the 1968 Stacey, Barbie’s British friend who had stubby eyelashes, a pasty complexion and a funny shaped head who, in a cruel joke, is lined up next to the bronzed original Malibu Barbie.
In a section dedicated entirely to Barbie pink, we discover that Barb wasn’t always obsessed with the colour, and that it was introduced to the Barbieverse in the ‘70s when pink furniture and interiors were en vogue; hence, the pink Dreamhouse was born. We see footage of Barbie's hair being made, as workers sew together tiny tendrils of curls to make an Afro. There’s a very fun lampshade made entirely out of the doll’s cascading silky locks.
The detail that goes into the design of the figurines is astounding: her clothes are of higher quality than the fast fashion you can buy for yourself today
The detail that goes into the design of the figurines is astounding: her clothes are of higher quality than the fast fashion you can buy for yourself today, with all the garments lined, designed to allow movement, and complete with functional zips and buttons. Barbie’s evolution matches the movement of the times, with the doll acting as a time capsule for fashion, home design, beauty trends and even cars.
But here’s the thing – the exhibition does often feel like a big advert for Mattel. A lot of the gallery text reads like it’s been lifted straight out of a press release. It’s true that there have been some ingenious – and bizarre – iterations of Barbie (shout out to the 1977 Growing Up Skipper, a short-lived doll designed to teach girls about puberty, who grew actual breasts when you wound her arm), but not everything in Barbieland is and always has been perfect, and the exhibition would do well to acknowledge that. Instead, we are spoon fed Mattel’s corporate manifesto about how Barbie was a pioneering toy, from a company that is ‘committed to diversity’, and always ahead of the curve.
Unlike the Barbie movie, which poked fun at the firm behind the figure, this exhibition is utterly sincere, and focuses too heavily on the achievements of Mattel. Given Barbie’s massive cultural impact (the exhibit constantly reminds us of it), more artefacts inspired by Barbie, and not just made by her all powerful creators, would have been much appreciated. When we do get to see items inspired by the brand – gems on show include a gorgeously camp hot pink handbag made in collaboration with Balmain, and an over the top baby pink Moschino dress with a giant bow – the exhibit is at its most fun and interesting.
Plus, a warning to parents. Gallery texts repeatedly tell us that Barbie is a key to unlocking children’s imagination, yet there is no opportunity for play in this exhibition. Apart from one touch screen where we can explore the doll’s anatomy via an X-ray image, there aren’t any interactive elements at all. For a show all about a toy it’s a real missed opportunity, particularly given how many blockbuster exhibitions in the capital tend to involve something interactive these days.
All the same, this is a joyful celebration of fashion, play, design and girlhood, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that ultimately Barbie is a product, manufactured by a corporation to make money. Yes, she can be anything. Just as long as Mattel gives her the green light first.
