A year after the phenomenal success of Greta Gerwig’s film starring Margot Robbie, Barbie arrives at the Design Museum in London from Friday, July 5. The museum is dedicating an exhibition to her until February 23, 2025, showing the evolution of “the world’s most famous doll” since its creation 65 years ago. The opening coincides with the 65the Barbie brand anniversary in 2024.
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From number one to wheelchair user
More than 180 dolls will be featured, including the one that spent six months aboard the International Space Station in 2022. The exhibition opens with “Barbie Number One,” the first model created in 1959 by the company Mattel, which is a partner of the exhibition.
The public will also be able to see the surfer “Sunset Malibu Barbie”, very popular in the 1970s, as well as the “Totally Hair Barbie” from 1992, with her long hair, the best-selling in the world with more than 10 million copies. Also on display are the first black, Hispanic and Asian Barbies, the first Barbie with Down syndrome, the first to move around in a wheelchair, etc.
The effigy of Samantha Cristoforetti
The organizers are particularly proud to exhibit “the only Barbie to have gone into space.” This one was designed to look like Italian Samantha Cristoforetti, the first European to take command of the International Space Station, the ISS. The Italian astronaut embarked with her in space for six months in 2022.
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The exhibition features videos of Samantha Cristoforetti answering questions in zero gravity in space, floating alongside the doll. “We are delighted that Samantha’s doll is being shown for the first time since its return from the ISS to the Design Museum this summer,” Danielle Thom, the exhibition’s curator, said in a statement.
De Florence Knoll à Frank Gehry
For Tim Marlow, the museum’s director, “design has been at the heart of Barbie’s story since her inception.” Visitors will be able to see “the influence of designers and architects — from Florence Knoll to Frank Gehry — on the Barbie universe,” according to the institution. The exhibition also devotes a section to Ken, Barbie’s eternal male companion, as well as her younger sister, Skipper.
