Barbie Turns 65 at a Museum

Barbie’s on a roll. Her smash hit movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and released in June 2023, was reprised in movie theaters in January 2024. Soon after, her exhibition, Barbie: A Cultural Icon, opened in Phoenix, traveling to Las Vegas and then Duluth, Minnesota, before arriving here, at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Although the exhibition “charts the 65-year history of Barbie,” according to the press release, a case displaying two Barbie Signature 65^th Blue Sapphire Anniversary dolls toward the end of the show is the only clue that she became a senior citizen last year. Sure, the sheer number of dolls Mattel has produced through the years — there are over 250 in the show — suggests longevity. Clearly, Barbie has already had plastic surgery, and she doesn’t need social security. The icon today looks very much like she did in 1959: too tall and too thin with outsize breasts and nonexistent hips, though the original vamp eyes got a remake circa 1968. To be fair, there have been many attempts both to diversify the doll and her cohort and make them more realistic. Given that the exhibition begins with the original 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 skin tones of “Barbie with Vitiligo” (2018–19). 

This exhibition, however, is primarily about Barbie and fashion. It opens with the first 22 costumes Charlotte Johnson designed for Mattel, among them “Barbie-Q” (1959–62), “Roman Holiday” (1959), and “Evening Splendor” (1959–64). One of the show’s compelling aspects, drawn from curator and fashion historian Karan Feder’s extensive Barbie Takes the Catwalk: A Style Icon’s History in Fashion (2023), is the juxtaposition of Barbie dolls with life-size outfits. Among the most successful on view is the demure, cinch-waist “Belle Dress,” based on Oleg Cassini’s fashions for Jackie O., which Barbie wore between 1962 and 1963. Some, including the mini metallic go-go dress “Salute to Silver” (1969), paired with a drop-waist version, are more evocative than equivalent; they conjure a period nonetheless.

Along with ready-to-wear, there’s couture aplenty, including vitrines devoted to fancy Barbie ensembles by Oscar de la Renta and Bob Mackie’s majestic special collector dolls, “Fantasy Goddess of Asia Barbie” (1998), “Fantasy Goddess of Africa Barbie” (1999), and “Fantasy Goddess of the Arctic Barbie” (1990). Another standout is Barbie’s hot pink synthetic leather suit with mini-skirt, zippers, and a peekaboo tummy, designed by Moschino. We see the full-size outfit next to the doll wearing it, as well as a video of the brand’s 2015 spring/winter fashion show inspired by Barbie wear.

Vintage TVs with colorful metallic surfaces cleverly display bygone advertisements for Barbie and recent interviews with designers at Mattel. Nothing, however, can beat the Ultra ‘Vette, a life-size pink Corvette, on the museum’s fourth floor. The driver’s door is open so you can pose for pictures. Or, you can be “SIB” — “still in box,” the acronym for the most valuable Barbie collectibles — by standing in life-size boxes, a pink one labeled Barbie or a blue one labeled Ken. Blue or pink? Some visitors might feel neither box is right for them. The continually awaited line of more realistic Barbie bodies (2016) — curvy, petite, tall — are here, though the original still far outnumbers them.

The chronicling of fashion is also a charting of history. A subtheme of the exhibition is Barbie’s many careers, displayed by decade. Each contains Barbies in five 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), released four years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, is a high point. The silvery jumpsuit, recalling those of the Mercury and Gemini astronauts, is trimmed with faux toast-color leather, including a chunky gold buckle across the collarbone. Even the unexpected fuchsia outfit with puffed sleeves “Astronaut Barbie” (1985) wears, which children in a focus group chose over one that more accurately reflects actual astronauts’ apparel, can’t compete. Part of this is undoubtedly due to the fact that earlier Barbie outfits were made of higher quality materials. On top of the Space Age, exhibition categories like “Hemline Evolution,” “Barbie and the Rockers,” and “Street Style” are similarly resonant blasts from the past. 

With the notable exception of the “Dream House” (1962) — a beautiful encounter between Barbie and modernism — there is not much focus on Barbie’s homes. For that matter, there is not much attention to Ken. The original muscle-less Ken (1961), and a handful of other versions, is here, along with other non-Barbie members of the family. But with the launch of the first Black and Hispanic Barbie dolls in 1980, it’s the beginning of a new world. By the time we get to “Ken with a Prosthetic Leg” (2023), with his darker features and curly hair, it feels more like we are looking at a Black man named Ken, rather than a Ken who is Black, much like the Barbie movie’s fleet of Kens of different races, sizes, and temperaments. The cross-dressing “Karl Lagerfeld Barbie doll” (2014) proves Susan Sontag right — androgynes are alluring.

Given that the exhibition is a collaboration with Mattel, it is not surprising that the corporation’s missteps find no place here. Rather than identify Bild Lilli, the risqué German doll designed for men that inspired 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 about the dolls that have been discontinued? The exhibition claims that the first Black Barbie is “Christie” (1968) but that place actually goes to the so-called “Colored Francie” (1967). And where’s the differently unfortunate “Growing Up Skipper” (1975–77), who grew breasts and an inch taller when you wound up her left arm? True, not a fashion icon, like her big sister, but still. “Share a Smile Becky” (1969), the first Barbie with disabilities, is in the show — but no mention of the fact that she was eventually phased out because her glossy pink wheelchair didn’t fit through the door of “Barbie Dream House.” “Wheelchair Barbie,” who can access the doll’s built environments, only appeared in 2019. Part of the Fashionista series, it includes other firsts like “Ken with Hearing Aids” (2023), “Down Syndrome Barbie” (2023), and “Blind Barbie” (2024).

Although Mattel’s bloopers are legendary, the multi-billion-dollar grossing company is increasingly doing due diligence by collaborating with organizations like the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Diversity in Barbie’s world now comes in 52 hair colors, nine body types, and 35 skin tones. Its history of inclusions and exclusions continues to stir up everything from veneration to violence in ongoing Barbie play and in the work of generations of artists.

Thirty years ago, Nancy Burson made “Aged Barbie,” a photograph of the Senior Citizen Barbie doll that does not yet exist. There may be one soon. And they might be wearing Dior.

Barbie®: A Cultural Icon continues at the Museum of Arts and Design (2 Columbus Circle, Columbus Circle, Manhattan) through March 16. The exhibition was curated by Karan Feder.