Travel Through Barbieland at London's Design Museum

Take a break from the real world and travel to Barbieland at , where a new major exhibition explores the evolution of one of the most in the world. “ ,” a collaboration between the Design Museum and Mattel, coincides with the 65th anniversary of the Barbie brand. With 250 objects on display, it traces the progression of dolls, cars, outfits and dreamhouses over the decades, starting with the very first Barbie doll released in the ’50s.

It also highlights milestones related to inclusivity, demonstrating how Barbie has responded to cultural shifts and incorporated a range of identities into the brand. The chief focus of the exhibition, however, is design: “What I would really like visitors to take away from the show, whether they've come as Barbie fans or Barbie skeptics but with an interest in design, is that there is actually a very complex and intentional set of design processes that go into creating the dolls and the accessories,” curator Danielle Thom tells Jane Englefield of , an architecture and design magazine. That said, those processes “reflect the social context in which any given Barbie is being produced,” she adds.



The show was designed by architecture firm , per the ’s critic Oliver Wainwright, who describes a “candy color palette” that creates a “perfectly tuned backdrop.” Pink, fittingly, envelops the space in all of its shades, but so do striking shades of yellow, blue and green. The exhibition begins in 1959 with a of the legendary doll.