Ok, maybe we’re a bit late to this party and we’re all a bit sick of pink by now, but Barbie®: The Exhibition is still on in London and we’ve discovered it isn’t as pink as we imagined.
Looking over photography of some of the key Barbie collectables from the 1960s and 1970s, it struck us that the colour palette was surprisingly varied and modern back then. Perhaps it isn’t a surprise. As a fashionable young woman, Barbie was a break from the tradition of baby and toddler dolls. Her buildings, furniture and vehicles therefore, were also a reflection of current fashions. Yellow dominates early playsets.
We looked back through the Sears Christmas wish-books and while pink certainly wasn’t absent from the early decades of Barbie, it wasn’t really until the 1990s that it started to dominate. The Dream House was recoloured in pink and white and everything from her camper van to the washing machine was also pink.
Pictured here are some Barbie firsts from the exhibition. The first Astronaut Barbie (who landed in the shops four years before a man would land on the moon), Doctor Barbie (in a mini-dress, but at least she’s wearing flats) and Black Barbie (released the same year as Hispanic Barbie).
Also pictured is one of the Totally Hair Barbies from 1992, the biggest selling Barbie of all time with over 10 million sold. That’s 10 million mums trying to untangle her floor-length hair.
Barbie®: The Exhibition continues at the Design Museum (London), until 23rd February 2025. The exhibition includes over 180 dolls.