Barbie exhibition on the Design Museum showcases the long-lasting doll’s design evolution

You don’t want to be a Barbie fan to benefit from the Design Museum’s newest exhibition, which marks the doll’s sixty fifth birthday (she’s trying actually good for her age, by the best way). This main new present takes a deep dive into the doll’s design evolution, from first launch in 1959 to current day, charting its altering look in relation to cultural shifts, in addition to its potential to faucet into the zeitgeist. On view are greater than 250 objects, with highlights together with a uncommon first-edition Barbie, a one-of-a-kind Speaking Barbie prototype, the bestselling Completely Hair Barbie, and the Barbie that was taken into house by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, exhibited in public for the primary time ever.

Barbie on the Design Museum

The exhibition was designed by London studio Sam Jacob, which has labored on initiatives for the likes of the Science Museum, the V&A, RIBA and Somerset Home. Like coming into a large Barbie home, the backdrop is vivid and daring, in sweet pinks, blues and greens. The present opens with a first-edition hand-painted Barbie sporting a black-and-white bathing swimsuit, a mannequin highly-sought-after by collectors. A timeline presents vital moments in Barbie’s achieved life, a round-up that encompasses Oscar de la Renta being the primary couturier to design her outfits (in 1985) and being painted by Andy Warhol (in 1986), and there are behind-the-scenes insights into Mattel’s design and manufacturing processes.

Greater than 180 distinctive dolls are on show, charting Barbie’s evolution in form, type, innovation, variety and illustration. Highlights embody Twist ’n’ Flip Barbie (the waist could possibly be twisted backwards and forwards), Sundown Malibu Barbie, Bead Blast Barbie, and Yves Saint Laurent Barbie (within the designer’s iconic Mondrian gown), whereas the groundbreaking Day to Night time Barbie sports activities a pink work swimsuit that transforms into a classy night robe. There are examples of the primary Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie title, in addition to the primary Barbie with Down syndrome, the primary to make use of a wheelchair, the primary designed with a ‘curvy’ physique form, and pregnant Barbie. And there’s a little bit of Kenergy too as one wall charts six many years’ price of Ken dolls since his introduction in 1961.

The icon of Barbie: 1959 to now

The Barbie doll was launched in 1959, because of Ruth Handler, the co-founder and first president of the Mattel toy firm, who recognized a spot out there for a doll that resembled a girl fairly than a child. Handler realised that an adult-bodied doll, with a glamorous, ’grown up’ wardrobe, might supply a brand new and extra versatile approach for kids to play. Its preliminary reputation took the toy trade unexpectedly, with greater than 300,000 Barbie dolls offered in 1959 alone. However ever-adept at constructing on its model visibility, Mattel would proceed to evolve the doll to replicate altering cultural landscapes, creating new variations and equipment, and augmenting the toy with merchandise starting from novels and comedian books to thermos flasks and document gamers.

In 2023, Barbie made it on to Forbes’ record of the world’s strongest ladies. Not shocking when you think about that when she launched, in 1959, ladies couldn’t borrow cash from a financial institution and even open an account with out the signature of a husband or father. Barbie, in the meantime, has had greater than 260 careers, together with architect, surgeon, astronaut and presidential candidate, and a high-end wardrobe reflecting six many years of trend. She was meant to be a totally trendy lady that might each replicate and encourage aspirations, educating a brand new era of women to purpose for a life and profession past marrying and elevating youngsters.

Barbie ‘by a design lens’

Barbie didn’t simply have a terrific wardrobe, she had a terrific way of life too, and the exhibition’s jaw-dropping second comes as you enter the Barbie universe, crammed together with her homes, vacation cabins, vehicles, camper vans, swimming pools, furnishings and extra. A uncommon instance of the primary ever Dreamhouse, launched in 1962, created from cardboard and sporting the distinctly modernist design of the period alerts an early loyalty to the Wallpaper* aesthetic, with Barbie clearly influenced by the likes of Florence Knoll and Herman Miller. Later incarnations ramp up the pink, however a current collaboration with Kartell, reproducing 5 Philippe Starck chairs in Barbie’s distinctive bubblegum colors, nods to her love of design innovation.

‘This exhibition tells the story of Barbie by a design lens together with trend, structure, furnishings and car design, that are all areas the place she has left a mark on tradition throughout her 65-year profession,’ says Kim Culmone, Mattel’s head of doll design. ‘We are able to’t anticipate followers and audiences to expertise this exhibition as Barbie continues to spark dialog, creativity and self-expression world wide.’

Which she does, and the ultimate part of the present seems at Barbie’s enduring position as a cultural icon. Billie Eilish sported a life dimension duplicate of her 1965 Poodle Parade gown at this 12 months’ Grammys, she’s been on the quilt of Time journal, and he or she’s been the topic of a field workplace smash (an unique costume worn by Margot Robbie within the movie may be seen within the present). So go for a trip within the Design Museum’s Barbie world. It’s unbelievable.

Barbie®: The Exhibition is on view on the Design Museum from 5 July 2024 – 23 February 2025