This week, as a certain doll continues to dominate the world, I’m revisiting Barbie-related Daily Heller posts from the past. This article originally ran on March 1, 2016.
For the first time, Barbie hits the runway in Paris at the Musée des Arts décoratifs (109 rue de Rivoli). And it’s about time. Who is more representative of fashion than she?
Since Barbie’s introduction in 1959, her impact, especially on the postwar generation, has been revolutionary. Barbie as invented personality involves the increasingly dissonant notions about the power of women, as well as racial and ethnic awareness, at least in American society. An illuminating book published a few years ago by former cartoonist, cultural critic and investigative journalist M. G. Lord, herself a first-generation Barbie owner, titled Forever Barbie: An Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, places the aging toy star in cultural, historical context. And what a history …
From Kirkus: “Barbie’s voluptuous body, says Lord, along with her various incarnations, including fashion model and photographer, made her a ‘brave, new, vaguely selfish and decidedly subversive heroine’ in the mold of Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl. Barbie never had a husband; she earned her own keep and always wore a smile (and a fabulous outfit). True, Mattel introduced a boyfriend for her in 1961, but Ken ‘was a mere accessory,’ Lord cracks, ‘a drip with seriously abridged genitalia who wasn’t very important in her life.’ Lord’s intelligence and good humor bring a new attitude to feminist visions of popular culture and the women who love it.”
Madame Presidential Candidate
In celebration of the Musée, the rest of this post will be en Français, but you non-speakers will get the drift.
C’est la première fois que Barbie® fait l’objet d’une véritable invitation dans une institution muséale française. Connu pour ses collections de design et de mode, de jouets et de publicité, le musée des Arts décoratifs est le lieu idéal pour mettre à l’honneur cette poupée iconique dont l’histoire se nourrit de sources multiples, en l’inscrivant pleinement dans une histoire culturelle et sociale du jouet aux XXe et XXIe siècles. 700 Poupées Barbie sont ainsi déployées sur 1500 m2, en regard d’œuvres issues des collections du musée (poupées anciennes, robes), mais aussi d’œuvres d’artistes contemporains, de documents, journaux, photos, vidéo, qui contextualisent les « vies de Barbie ».
L’astronaut
Surgeon
Tres Chic
Ohh, la, la
Wearing Dior
Career girl
Flight attendant
Mad Men Barbie