You don’t have to be a devotee of popular culture to have noticed the omnipresence of brand Barbie over the past year.
The release of Greta Gerwig’s cinematic portrayal of the world’s most famous doll has led to Barbie being inserted into debates far beyond the realms of showbiz, from geopolitical border disputes to discussions on the state of feminism.
But one place where Barbie’s influence is undeniably justified is in the world of design and fashion. Or so says the curator of Barbie: The Exhibition, a new London showcase of items from the pink and plastic world first manufactured by Mattel in 1959.
“A number of fashion designers have said Barbie was their first client,” said the exhibition’s curator, Danielle Thom. “Martin Margiela talks at length about as a teenager playing with his sister’s Barbies and making clothes for them. Jeremy Scott, the former creative director at Moschino, did an entire ready-to-wear catwalk collection in 2015 – we want to show some archived looks from that show. We’re in conversation about that. Barbie’s been used to influence real fashion bodies. For me it was always about the clothes,” said Thom.
The Design Museum exhibit will feature more than 180 dolls including the rare first edition known as “Number 1 Barbie”. Dozens of original Barbie outfits will also be on show that demonstrate the doll’s origins in fashion, including “Poodle Parade”, a lifesize replica of which was worn by Billie Eilish when she performed at the Grammys earlier this month.
The exhibition, which opens on 5 July, will explore Barbie’s changing appearance in relation to evolving cultural shifts around diversity and representation. There will be examples of the first black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie name. The first Barbie with Down’s syndrome, the first using a wheelchair, and one designed with a “curvy” body shape will also be included.
Thom said preparation work for the show had taken place long before the film was released. She concentrated on the idea of Barbie only being a blond, blue-eyed white-skinned woman. She said she familiarised herself with the Barbie line and “to an extent Mattel was more diverse” than it is given credit for, with a nod to Kitty Black Perkins, who designed the first black Barbie dolls throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
“Something we explore is hair play. Hair has the potential to be emotional and political in how different hair textures have been represented and treated. These days the different variations on offer are for all hair textures and colours. They pay attention to different details like painting baby hairs on the hairlines of afro dolls which is a recent innovation but shows they are thinking of accuracy.
“Earlier there wasn’t as much thought into hair texture: their hair is straightened no matter the complexion. So hair is a narrative theme, it is a huge component in finding the dolls’ perceived identity and letting children see themselves,” said Thom.
The Barbie universe’s evolution will also be on show including the playsets, vehicles, houses and other accessories that have been used to design the world in which the doll exists. There will also be a section dedicated to Ken, charting the doll’s development from his introduction in 1961.
It is the first time a major UK museum has held a show dedicated to the doll. The Design Museum drew on Mattel’s archives in California for a number of important loans and used the company’s brand archivists.
Kim Culmone, the senior vice-president of design for Mattel, said Barbie had become an “international icon” and that the doll had been leaving a mark on culture for 65 years. Thom said she wanted Barbie fans to come away knowing there was a world of in-depth design thinking around it.
She also hoped design fans were surprised because a toy had this complex network of intentionality behind it. “There is an acute design thinking that goes into making these dolls and their universe,” she said.