★★★★★
The Barbie franchise is absolutely astronomical. She’s had a hundred faces, countless houses, several animated TV, too many animated movies, a critically acclaimed live-action film that grossed $1.5 billion, and now an exhibition – which is running at the Design Museum in London.
The museum’s facade and foyer both promote the exhibition with images of iconic Barbie dolls. Outside the exhibition is a human-size Barbie doll box – which I obviously posed in, wearing my bright pink tee with the loco emblazoned on it – and some game simulation that you can put yourself in but that I chose not to (I’m far too scared by this compelling theory that we are living in a simulation to even entertain the idea of one).
The exhibition opens with an explosion of pink. You turn the corner to see a huge Barbie logo plastered on the wall, before turning left to see a pristine first-edition Barbie imprisoned and immortalised in a glass box. Not a single hair is out of place. She’s better looked after than some children. She spins on a revolve, allowing people to appreciate every single detail no matter where they are stood. Behind her (or in front of her, depending where she is looking) is a gorgeous neon sign. On the other wall is a small TV screen displaying archive footage.
Around the corner, the history of Barbie is printed on the wall, alongside cardboard cutouts of the Barbie logo throughout time – which has gone full circle, with the latest logo being a reproduction of the iconic original.
In a glass table sits various items. This room feels more educational – like a physical history lesson – preparing attendees for the celebration of Barbie to come, and thus allowing us to appreciate the true excellence of the brand with this additional information.
The next room is a labyrinth of iconic Barbie dolls from over the years. The curved room holds Barbie after Barbie, with little bits of info slotted underneath each (the info sometimes references the previous or next Barbie, or the mould of another Barbie, etc.).
The room allows us to appreciate the ever-evolving face and shape, and thus identity, of Barbie. We see how she has changed to reflect the times – and both the fashion and values of those times. We meet the first Black and Hispanic Barbies, and later the first plus-sized and disabled Barbies.
In American Gods, there are countless Jesuses, of all different races – reflecting that people see themselves in Jesus, and how different races portray Jesus to look like their race (even though he was, irrefutably, Middle-Eastern).
Barbie, similarly, has had countless different appearances, allowing little girls (and boys!) of all different backgrounds to identify with her.
I remember, as a child, seeing a Black Barbie doll from Barbie and the Magic of the Pegasus. I had originally thought that she was Rayla, the Cloud Queen (a version of Christie – a Black Barbie), before realising that it was just a Black version of the White protagonist. Barbie had produced two versions – one White, one Black – of the same doll, presumably for diversity and representation, better allowing little Black girls to see themselves in, and as, Barbie.
The next room is like a chaotic toy factory, with scores of Barbies and toys all around the room and on a circular table in the middle. The room features some Barbie Signature 65th Anniversary dolls – again, both White and Black – and text informs us (and images show us) that it was inspired by the original Barbie (which we saw in the first room).
The next room feels like a continuation of the first. A huge toy factory, there are Barbies, houses, vehicles, etc. everywhere, with some on huge tables, some on smaller tables, and some on stands.
The final room is plastered with posters, celebrating Barbie as a pop culture icon, from magazine covers to a movie poster. There are a few more Barbie dolls and some gorgeous outfits on mannequins – including one which is a life-sized version of an outfit of one of the dolls (or perhaps the outfit on the doll is a doll-sized version of the human outfit!).
This exhibition aims not only to celebrate Barbie but also her evolution. Barbie is often criticised as being problematic, especially insofar as her unrealistic appearance, but the brand has addressed this over the years with better diversity.
What a lot of people fail to realise, however, is that Barbie has always been feminist. At a time when most girls were playing with baby dolls and kitchen sets – preparing them for a life of domesticity and motherhood – Barbie was an independent woman who owned her own house, (at a time when women were denied mortgage applications on the basis of their sex or marital status!).
Whilst girls were groomed to be wives, Ken was designed not as Barbie’s “honey, I’m home!” husband but, rather. Barbie’s plaything. Whilst most women were housewives, Barbie became an astronaut four years before man stepped foot on the moon, and whilst the USA is yet to have a female President – with a Black woman recently losing to a man convicted of sexual assault – a Black Barbie became President way back in 1992. Barbie is a fantasy where we can imagine a better world; where little girls can be whomever they want to be.
Whether Barbie is radical or not depends on the philosophy you prescribed to. Can a mass-produced product in a capitalistic society ever be radical? Or can we see Barbie as radical within that context? Regardless, she has always been progressive and ahead of her time.
This glamorous exhibition has been planned meticulously, with a photo opportunity and pink entrance getting attendees excited before beginning with, quite possibly, the most enthralling item – a first-edition Barbie. This allows attendees to go on a linear journey, of sorts, so that we can appreciate the evolution of the doll and brand. The next room brings the excitement down a little, with the remaining rooms each all somehow outdoing the last. It’s an immersive history lesson about a feminist icon.
Barbie: The Exhibition runs at The Design Museum until February 25 2025.
Photo: © Jo Underhill
JADAR 