London

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="928" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-0972A286-DC33-4150-B749-891803FAEBED.png" alt="" class="wp-image-3106" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-0972A286-DC33-4150-B749-891803FAEBED.png 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-0972A286-DC33-4150-B749-891803FAEBED-300x186.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-0972A286-DC33-4150-B749-891803FAEBED-1024x634.png 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-0972A286-DC33-4150-B749-891803FAEBED-768x475.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">1959 Barbie No. 1 © Mattel, Inc</figcaption></figure>



If you thought Barbiedom peaked with Greta Gerwig’s £1.4billion-grossing movie of 2023 and the tsunami of fashion, music and interiors trends that followed, steel yourself. Barbie’s back &#8211; this time with <a href="https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbie-the-exhibition">her own exhibition</a> at The Design Museum, in association with toy company Mattel to celebrate her 65 years on the planet.



The dolls in Barbie®: The Exhibition – all 180 of them – are displayed chronologically along with various accessories to lead you through the decades, all the best to see how Barbie moves with the times and, if Mattel is to be believed, leads the way.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="928" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-93481B9A-9069-48F7-B75F-5B93B2117E79.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3111" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-93481B9A-9069-48F7-B75F-5B93B2117E79.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-93481B9A-9069-48F7-B75F-5B93B2117E79-300x186.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-93481B9A-9069-48F7-B75F-5B93B2117E79-1024x634.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-93481B9A-9069-48F7-B75F-5B93B2117E79-768x475.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



So the first doll you see is the original 1959 Barbie, hair in a high ponytail, looking slyly to the side with her cat eyes (her eyes get more innocent and wide over the decades), turning slowly on a pedestal behind glass in her strapless black and white-striped bathing suit.



Then the procession begins, with dozens and dozens of Barbies pinned behind glass like precious butterflies in a museum, from the first black Barbie in 1968 and President Barbie in 1992, to 2016’s introduction of the “petite, tall and curvy” Barbies (spoiler – she’s only a size 12) and the ‘Fashionistas’ line of Barbies in 2022 that included dolls with prosthetic legs, wheelchairs and hearing aids.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="928" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-49C4005F-BA55-4786-B098-C74A6C43E77A.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-3107" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-49C4005F-BA55-4786-B098-C74A6C43E77A.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-49C4005F-BA55-4786-B098-C74A6C43E77A-300x186.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-49C4005F-BA55-4786-B098-C74A6C43E77A-1024x634.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-49C4005F-BA55-4786-B098-C74A6C43E77A-768x475.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



There are some bizarre iterations too, like Growing Up Skipper Barbie from 1977, which was designed to teach girls about puberty, so when you wound her arm, she grew actual breasts. I&#8217;m not even making that up. I hadn’t realised until this exhibition but there have also been Barbies created specifically for grown-up collectors.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="928" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-71A21949-B547-4254-B7BB-71035749D57C-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-3110" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-71A21949-B547-4254-B7BB-71035749D57C-1.png 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-71A21949-B547-4254-B7BB-71035749D57C-1-300x186.png 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-71A21949-B547-4254-B7BB-71035749D57C-1-1024x634.png 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-71A21949-B547-4254-B7BB-71035749D57C-1-768x475.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">1992 Totally Hair Barbie, Petra Rajnicova for the Design Museum</figcaption></figure>



Seeing Barbie after Barbie becomes a bit wallpaper after a while unless you’re a mega-fan (I&#8217;m not), but placing her at the epicentre of 65 years of culture is a clever move in this exhibition. Architect Frank Gehry is name-checked as the inspiration for Barbie’s 1978 A-frame DreamHouse, while the sofa and chairs are influenced by Michel Ducaroy and Finnish designer Eero Aarnio. More recently if you care for such things, her home had a post-modernist makeover in the Nineties.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="928" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-CE4FE3E8-85E6-46A6-A324-5FD3CD202A82.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3108" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-CE4FE3E8-85E6-46A6-A324-5FD3CD202A82.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-CE4FE3E8-85E6-46A6-A324-5FD3CD202A82-300x186.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-CE4FE3E8-85E6-46A6-A324-5FD3CD202A82-1024x634.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/606_980-CE4FE3E8-85E6-46A6-A324-5FD3CD202A82-768x475.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">1962 Barbie Dream House © Mattel, Inc.</figcaption></figure>



Just as Barbie’s jobs and aspirations changed over time, so has her waist to hip ratio, the cars she&#8217;s driven, houses she’s lived in, and the clothes she’s worn. Seeing this exhibition through the lens of cultural shift &#8211; not to mention Mattel’s endlessly savvy marketing &#8211; gives it some welcome depth, although I have to admit I was more taken with the moments of levity. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="939" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/DM_Barbie-Image_RGB1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3059" style="aspect-ratio:1.0649627263045793;width:1500px" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/DM_Barbie-Image_RGB1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/DM_Barbie-Image_RGB1-300x282.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/DM_Barbie-Image_RGB1-768x721.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



The huge chandelier made of Barbie’s shiny hair as I entered the exhibition was clever and humorous, and the small display of Kens, five of them side by side, was also strangely fascinating. He went from handsome, chiselled, preppy Ken in the Sixties to gayzone hunky Earring Magic Ken in 1993 &#8211; yes, that really was his name &#8211; wearing a pink mesh t-shirt and a neck-chain that was teased mercilessly at the time for looking like a cock-ring. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/C546-1-982.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3055" style="aspect-ratio:1.4992503748125936;width:1500px" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/C546-1-982.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/C546-1-982-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/C546-1-982-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Jo Underhill for the Design Museum</figcaption></figure>



As a change of pace from looking at tiny dolls in plastic houses, there was also a room dedicated to a handful of neon outfits from the Barbie movie – just about enough to draw fans of Margot Robbie as much as Mattel.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="999" height="680" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/Jo-Underhill-for-the-Design-Museum.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-3061" style="width:1500px" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/Jo-Underhill-for-the-Design-Museum.jpg 999w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/Jo-Underhill-for-the-Design-Museum-300x204.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/07/Jo-Underhill-for-the-Design-Museum-768x523.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Jo Underhill for the Design Museum</figcaption></figure>



THE MUDDY VERDICT



Good for: Barbie megafans obvs, and anyone interested in seeing the last 65 years through the cultural lens of this 11.5in American doll.



Not for: Strangely for an exhibition about a toy, there’s no interactivity at all, so I’m not sure I’d bring under 12s to it. That feels a bit of an oversight.



<a href="https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbie-the-exhibition">Barbie: The Exhibition</a>, runs from 5 July to 23 Feb 2025 at <a href="https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/barbie-the-exhibition">The Design Museum</a>. 224-238 High Street Kensington, London W8 6AG. Tube: High Street Kensington. £16 adults, £8 children.

Muddy reviews Barbie®: The Exhibition, at The Design Museum

You may also like