Barbie’s on a roll. Her smash hit film, directed by Greta Gerwig and launched in June 2023, was reprised in film theaters in January 2024. Quickly after, her exhibition, Barbie: A Cultural Icon, opened in Phoenix, touring to Las Vegas after which Duluth, Minnesota, earlier than arriving right here, on the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Though the exhibition “charts the 65-year history of Barbie,” in keeping with the press launch, a case displaying two Barbie Signature sixty fifth Blue Sapphire Anniversary dolls towards the tip of the present is the one clue that she turned a senior citizen final 12 months. Positive, the sheer variety of dolls Mattel has produced by way of the years — there are over 250 within the present — suggests longevity. Clearly, Barbie has already had cosmetic surgery, and he or she doesn’t want social safety. The icon right this moment seems to be very very similar to she did in 1959: too tall and too skinny with outsize breasts and nonexistent hips, although the unique vamp eyes received a remake circa 1968. To be honest, there have been many makes an attempt each to diversify the doll and her cohort and make them extra life like. On condition that the exhibition begins with the unique doll of 1959 and ends with Barbies from 2024, we get to see many firsts, from the buttoned up, bespectacled “Student Teacher” (1965) to the differing pores and skin tones of “Barbie with Vitiligo” (2018–19).
This exhibition, nonetheless, is primarily about Barbie and style. It opens with the primary 22 costumes Charlotte Johnson designed for Mattel, amongst them “Barbie-Q” (1959–62), “Roman Holiday” (1959), and “Evening Splendor” (1959–64). One of many present’s compelling facets, drawn from curator and style historian Karan Feder’s in depth Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Fashion Icon’s Historical past in Vogue (2023), is the juxtaposition of Barbie dolls with life-size outfits. Among the many most profitable on view is the demure, cinch-waist “Belle Dress,” based mostly on Oleg Cassini’s fashions for Jackie O., which Barbie wore between 1962 and 1963. Some, together with the mini metallic go-go gown “Salute to Silver” (1969), paired with a drop-waist model, are extra evocative than equal; they conjure a interval nonetheless.
Set up view of Barbie®: A Cultural Icon
Together with ready-to-wear, there’s couture aplenty, together with vitrines dedicated to fancy Barbie ensembles by Oscar de la Renta and Bob Mackie’s majestic particular collector dolls, “Fantasy Goddess of Asia Barbie” (1998), “Fantasy Goddess of Africa Barbie” (1999), and “Fantasy Goddess of the Arctic Barbie” (1990). One other standout is Barbie’s scorching pink artificial leather-based swimsuit with mini-skirt, zippers, and a peekaboo tummy, designed by Moschino. We see the full-size outfit subsequent to the doll sporting it, in addition to a video of the model’s 2015 spring/winter style present impressed by Barbie put on.
Classic TVs with colourful metallic surfaces cleverly show bygone commercials for Barbie and up to date interviews with designers at Mattel. Nothing, nonetheless, can beat the Extremely ‘Vette, a life-size pink Corvette, on the museum’s fourth ground. The driving force’s door is open so you’ll be able to pose for footage. Or, you may be “SIB” — “still in box,” the acronym for probably the most worthwhile Barbie collectibles — by standing in life-size bins, a pink one labeled Barbie or a blue one labeled Ken. Blue or pink? Some guests would possibly really feel neither field is correct for them. The frequently awaited line of extra life like Barbie our bodies (2016) — curvy, petite, tall — are right here, although the unique nonetheless far outnumbers them.
Carol Ockman, Nathan Stobaugh, and Zachariah DeGiulio within the hot-pink Corvette on the fourth ground of the exhibition (picture used with permission)
The chronicling of style can also be a charting of historical past. A subtheme of the exhibition is Barbie’s many careers, displayed by decade. Every incorporates Barbies in 5 outfits, from “American Airline Stewardess” (1961) to “Gold Medal Barbie,” (1975–76) and from “Paleontologist Barbie” (1996) to “Presidential Candidate/Future Leader” (2024). The costume for “Miss Astronaut” (1965), launched 4 years earlier than Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, is a excessive level. The silvery jumpsuit, recalling these of the Mercury and Gemini astronauts, is trimmed with fake toast-color leather-based, together with a chunky gold buckle throughout the collarbone. Even the surprising fuchsia outfit with puffed sleeves “Astronaut Barbie” (1985) wears, which youngsters in a spotlight group selected over one which extra precisely displays precise astronauts’ attire, can’t compete. A part of that is undoubtedly as a result of the truth that earlier Barbie outfits had been made of upper high quality supplies. On prime of the Area Age, exhibition classes like “Hemline Evolution,” “Barbie and the Rockers,” and “Street Style” are equally resonant blasts from the previous.
With the notable exception of the “Dream House” (1962) — a good looking encounter between Barbie and modernism — there may be not a lot deal with Barbie’s properties. For that matter, there may be not a lot consideration to Ken. The unique muscle-less Ken (1961), and a handful of different variations, is right here, together with different non-Barbie family members. However with the launch of the primary Black and Hispanic Barbie dolls in 1980, it’s the start of a brand new world. By the point we get to “Ken with a Prosthetic Leg” (2023), together with his darker options and curly hair, it feels extra like we’re a Black man named Ken, relatively than a Ken who’s Black, very similar to the Barbie film’s fleet of Kens of various races, sizes, and temperaments. The cross-dressing “Karl Lagerfeld Barbie doll” (2014) proves Susan Sontag proper — androgynes are alluring.
Set up view of Barbie®: A Cultural Icon
On condition that the exhibition is a collaboration with Mattel, it isn’t stunning that the company’s missteps discover no place right here. Somewhat than determine Bild Lilli, the risqué German doll designed for males that impressed Barbie’s creation, the opening wall panel refers to “a doll in a Swiss shop” Mattel’s co-founder, Ruth Handler “stumbled on.” And what concerning the dolls which have been discontinued? The exhibition claims that the primary Black Barbie is “Christie” (1968) however that place truly goes to the so-called “Colored Francie” (1967). And the place’s the otherwise unlucky “Growing Up Skipper” (1975–77), who grew breasts and an inch taller once you wound up her left arm? True, not a style icon, like her large sister, however nonetheless. “Share a Smile Becky” (1969), the primary Barbie with disabilities, is within the present — however no point out of the truth that she was ultimately phased out as a result of her shiny pink wheelchair didn’t match by way of the door of “Barbie Dream House.” “Wheelchair Barbie,” who can entry the doll’s constructed environments, solely appeared in 2019. A part of the Fashionista collection, it consists of different firsts like “Ken with Hearing Aids” (2023), “Down Syndrome Barbie” (2023), and “Blind Barbie” (2024).
Though Mattel’s bloopers are legendary, the multi-billion-dollar grossing firm is more and more doing due diligence by collaborating with organizations just like the Nationwide Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and the American Basis for the Blind (AFB). Range in Barbie’s world now is available in 52 hair colours, 9 physique sorts, and 35 pores and skin tones. Its historical past of inclusions and exclusions continues to fire up all the things from veneration to violence in ongoing Barbie play and within the work of generations of artists.
Thirty years in the past, Nancy Burson made “Aged Barbie,” {a photograph} of the Senior Citizen Barbie doll that doesn’t but exist. There could also be one quickly. They usually is likely to be sporting Dior.
Set up view of Barbie®: A Cultural Icon
Set up view of Barbie®: A Cultural Icon
Set up view of Barbie®: A Cultural Icon
Barbie®: A Cultural Icon continues on the Museum of Arts and Design (2 Columbus Circle, Columbus Circle, Manhattan) by way of March 16. The exhibition was curated by Karan Feder.
