(London) The Design Museum in London is dedicating an exhibition to Barbie from Friday, with more than 180 dolls, including the one that spent six months aboard the International Space Station in 2022.
A year after the phenomenal success of Greta Gerwig’s film starring Margot Robbie, Barbie is coming to this west London museum for an exhibition showing the evolution of “the world’s most famous doll” since its creation 65 years ago.
It opens with “Barbie number 1”, the first model created in 1959 by the company Mattel, which is a partner of the exhibition.
It also includes 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 use a wheelchair, and more.
The organizers are particularly proud to exhibit “the only Barbie to have gone into space.”
This one was designed to resemble 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.
The exhibition features videos of Samantha Cristoforetti answering questions in weightlessness in space, floating alongside the doll.
“We are delighted that Samantha’s doll is on display for the first time since its return from the ISS to the Design Museum this summer,” said Danielle Thom, curator of the exhibition, in a statement.
For Tim Marlow, the museum’s director, “design has been at the heart of Barbie’s story since its creation.”
Visitors will be able to see “the influence of designers and architects – from Florence Knoll to Frank Gehry – on the world of Barbie,” according to the institution.
The exhibition also devotes a section to Ken, Barbie’s eternal male companion, as well as to his younger sister, Skipper.