London’s Design Museum is set to open a new Barbie exhibition, featuring a Barbie taken into space, a Talking Barbie prototype, and one of the earliest first-edition dolls.
In partnership with toy company Mattel, the Barbie exhibition showcases more than 250 items, including over 180 dolls, dating from 1959 to today.
Designed by Sam Jacob Studio, the show opens tomorrow (5 July) and presents Barbie dolls alongside other items from the Barbie universe.
Tim Marlow, director and CEO of the Design Museum, said: “Visitors to our timely exhibition will come face-to-face with some of the most important and recognisable iterations of Barbie from across the past six-and-a-half decades, and we hope it will be a joyful, fascinating, inspiring, illuminating and even perhaps nostalgic experience for generations of Barbie fans.”
Highlights include the Sunset Malibu Barbie (1971), which was one of the most popular dolls of the decade, and the Day to Night Barbie (1985) – inspired by the workplace revolution for women in the 1980s.
Also on view are examples of the Totally Hair Barbie (1992), which is the best-selling Barbie of all time, and examples of the first Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls with the Barbie name.
Special dolls in the exhibition include a unique prototype of the first Talking Barbie (1968), which is one of several rare items borrowed directly from the Mattel headquarters archives in Los Angeles.
As for Barbie in space, this doll spent six months orbiting the planet on the International Space Station in 2022. It is a likeness of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and is on loan from the European Space Agency.
“This exhibition tells the story of Barbie through a design lens including fashion, architecture, furniture, and vehicle design, which are all spaces where she has left a mark on culture during her remarkable 65-year career,” said Kim Culmone, senior vice president of design for Mattel.
Barbie through “a design lens”
Guests will see the first-ever Barbie Dreamhouse (1962), a selection of Barbie’s vehicles, plenty of Barbie accessories, and an original costume worn by Margot Robbie in the 2023 movie Barbie. There is also a section dedicated to Ken.
Danielle Thom, the exhibition’s curator, said: “Barbie is arguably one of the most globally recognised examples of world-building through product and graphic design, and in turn she has inspired many designers and artists to respond to her history.”
Barbie has starred in several location-based entertainment (LBE) experiences of late. These include a dining experience at Mall of America, and Mattel theme parks with a life-size Barbie Beach House.
The Design Museum’s Barbie exhibition is running through 23 February 2025.
Images courtesy of the Design Museum and Mattel
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