Review: London Design Museum’s Barbie Exhibition

Barbie may only be 11.5 inches of plastic, but the childhood doll has a remarkable history that reflects and sometimes questions the changing values ​​of our society. An exhibition at London’s Design Museum called “Barbie: The Exhibition” is now reminding us of just that. Behind the Barbie craze that defines 2023 movie of the same nameThe exhibition highlights the breadth of design, fashion and architectural innovations that this young fellow has long exemplified.

“Design is at the core of Barbie’s story, and has been since her creation sixty-five years ago.” Tim Marlow“As we have seen recently, its influence has evolved with each new generation,” the Design Museum CEO tells the Observer.

With 250 objects and 180 dolls, it is the first time a major museum in the UK has mounted a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the figurine. Barbie’s longtime manufacturer, Mattel Inc., has partnered with the Design Museum to give them free reign over their California archives. Rare original dolls, forgotten toy accessories and archival design plans are just a few of the treasures from Barbieland.

“Barbie is one of the most globally recognised examples of world-building through product and graphic design,” says the exhibition curator Danielle Thom“In turn, she has inspired many designers and artists to respond to her own history.”

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The eponymous doll is just one piece of history here, from her beginnings as a statuesque woman in a striped swimsuit to her long and polarizing role perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards. But the series most closely examines the creation of an innocent fantasy world—Barbie’s homes, cars, and even the realm of haute couture. Specifically, the unique design historical and political gesture of taking objects from our changing adult lives and reflecting them back to us as new plastic pieces that we then pair with our favorite doll.

“The Barbie universe is vast and exciting, thanks to the meticulous work of talented designers,” adds Thom. “Barbie’s design story is a rich subject for our museum to focus on.”

Barbie, as a physical embodiment of modern femininity, charts a history of past trends and changing tastes. The pieces on display reflect significant intersections in the history of twentieth-century design sensibilities and society’s changing politics. The most radical example may be Barbie’s original 1962 cardboard Dream House. At a time when most women could not own property without a male sponsor, Dream House reads as a quiet feminist statement, with Barbie enjoying a collection of books and records (but not the kitchen) in her apartment. College bunting suggests Barbie is a college graduate, while a single bed confirms that she is not married.

The Dream House soon began to build on, and at times challenge, America’s broader political consciousness that had developed in the 1970s, from feminism to environmentalism. Later iterations, such as the 1979 open A-frame house inspired by the architect, Frank Gehrig‘s early work tapped into a broader environmental movement. A skylight, natural light colors, and flower-filled window boxes grace the structure, emphasizing a naturalism distinct from the Dream Houses seen before. Even the fact that its rooms are not confined to kitchens or living rooms emphasizes the free-spirited, unstructured tastes of the decade.

In the reactionary swing of the 1980s, when corporate conquests and conspicuous consumption emerged, Barbie’s Dream House became the well-known pink mansion many know today. On display is the Enchanted Mansion (1990), a dollhouse that displays the architectural excesses and material ostentations of the period, with Doric columns, sumptuous furniture and flashy colors. There are private rooms, with a lavish “Love Bed” for the bedroom and a spacious spa for the bathroom, suggesting that Barbie is enjoying the yearning middle-class fantasy of a suburban home. Now with Ken.

The final Dream House on display is just a few years old, with a minimalist aesthetic stripped back with few furnishings and a hot pink finish. It’s a metonym for our TikTok content era, with a disco on the third floor (complete with karaoke machine) and a phone holder suggesting a focus on creating fun online content for friends at home. The swirly slide that circles the house confirms this adult fun is just for kids.

The series also reminds us that Barbie is never defined or confined to a home. Purpose can be found on the road, at work, and in other remote places from ski cabins to space stations. In 1961, Barbie bought her first car, a salmon-pink Austin-Healey 3000. The sleek sports car with aqua green seats signaled Barbie’s independence while also echoing Jensen Motors’ “big Healey” convertible for adults. The car may not have had a (practical or physical) top, but its symbolic place next to her solo Dream House heralded a fearless and liberated young woman.

Other vehicles featured in the show include a 1971 Country Camper, a sickly ’70s yellow-and-orange camper decorated with rainbow decals. The van offered kids the chance to take Barbie and “glamping” on the luxury estate. It would eventually become one of the most popular accessories to pair with the doll, representing the era’s free-flowing focus on worldly experiences for “me.”

It’s a great irony that dolls continually diminish adult material possessions, workplaces, and even children’s clothing. The array of McMansions, flashy sports cars, and luxury fashions in Barbie: The Exhibition is a reminder of this.

The chance to “interpret the adult world” as Barbie creator and Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler once said,The enduring appeal of the toy is what continues to offer children, even generations later. Adult lives are often mundane, forced, and uninspiring, so the chance to recreate boring or adult objects for childish fun makes it all the more ironic. Barbie asks children to be adults for a moment… but also, children, don’t grow up too soon.

“Barbie: The Exhibition” offers us an immersive and enlightening education about the polarizing yet political piece of plastic fantasy, one that extends beyond its original pink palette and blonde curls. Take the Dreamhouse. To see Barbie so confident and carefree in her home from the 1960s to the present is a powerful statement about Barbie’s self-assurance in her private spaces. The exhibition shows how a seemingly simple dollhouse has long betrayed a much more nuanced relationship to our changing values, aesthetics and design practices toward the private spaces we inhabit.

For Barbie nostalgia enthusiasts, design enthusiasts and perhaps those looking for a short childish fantasy game, “Barbie: The Exhibition” will add color to your world, albeit briefly.

“Barbie: Exhibition” is on display at the London Design Museum until 23 February 2025. Advance booking is recommended.