Barbie: She's had 250 jobs and now her own exhibition

Barbara Millicent Roberts has had more than 250 jobs in the past 67 years.

She's been an astronaut, a teacher, a nurse and a presidential candidate.

For 29cm of moulded plastic, Barbie, as she's better known, has had a disproportionately huge impact on culture and design, as the first exhibition in Scotland devoted to her shows.

Danielle Thom, senior curator at The Design Museum in London, which is bringing the exhibition to Glasgow, began talks with the toy company Mattel in 2021.

"I wasn't a Barbie superfan, but I also wasn't a sceptic," she says.

"Regardless of how one feels about the history of Barbie, you cannot dispute that the doll and the brand has had this outsize impact on 20th and 21st century pop culture and that's what I wanted to explore in the exhibition."

Barbie made her debut at the New York Toy Fair in 1959 and one of the original dolls is the opening exhibit at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Blonde-haired, long-legged and swimsuit-clad, she was designed to be displayed, the tiny holes in her feet allowing her to be secured on a stand.

But Ruth Handler, who co-created Barbie based on the dolls her own daughter played with, meant her to be more than a collectible.

"Doll play is so important for early childhood development for boys and girls alike and the way in which children play with dolls is critical to their early development of language, of social skills, of empathy for others," says Danielle.

"In the exhibition we look at the relationship between play and design, how the design of Barbie and the world of Barbie have impacted children's play but also how children's play has then impacted on the design of Barbie."

The Kelvingrove exhibition shows how the doll has evolved over time to reflect its audience more accurately.

There are now 35 different skin tones to choose from, as well as a range of diverse dolls.

In recent years, Mattel have created dolls with a hearing aid, a prosthetic limb and a wheelchair, and in 2023 they worked with the US National Down Syndrome Society to create a new model.

Fashion was always a key selling point of Barbie – with interchangeable outfits being part of the offer, and a clever way to ensure dolls were more than a one-off purchase.

And it wasn't just what she wore.

The exhibition includes a range of ever more palatial "dream houses" beginning with her original bachelorette apartment launched in 1962.

Its single bed, kitchen-free, simply furnished space was a symbol of female independence in an era when young, single American women would have been unable to secure a mortgage.

Similarly desirable for fans of design is the 1978 A-frame dream house, which recalls the work of Frank Gehry.

The American architect was a friend of Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot, and designed a house for them in 1972, which was never built.

And if the real estate was ambitious, the sky was the limit when it came to job opportunities.

A board game launched in 1963 encouraged fans to choose a career for Barbie.

Many of the ideas became standalone dolls including Astronaut Barbie which was launched in 1965, four years before the first humans landed on the moon.

"Barbie is a mass produced object so she's progressive, not radical, but it has always pushed the idea of careers for girls and young women, going back to the late 50s and early 60s when that was by no means a given," says Danielle.

She's careful not to speak for the best-selling brand which makes the doll but as an exhibition curator - and the mother of a five-year-old.

"I think it has opened up new horizons but I think ultimately the Barbie doll is a canvas onto which people can project their own aspirations and their own ideas about the world," Danielle says.

"It's not solely something that tells children how to think or how to be."

The blockbuster film Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, revived interest in the brand, and its origin story.

It also extended interest beyond its original target audience.

Jane Rowland of Glasgow Life believes the exhibition will appeal to a wide audience in Scotland.

"Whether they want to reminisce about what they played with as a child or whether they're inspired by the film or want to explore design history or fashion history as it evolves in the 20th century into the 21st century, there is something to appeal to everyone," she says.

Danielle Thom believes Barbie has always stayed just ahead of the curve when it comes to fashion and design and that will stand her in good stead as she prepares to mark her eighth decade.

"There are very few toy brands that have sustained themselves for as long as this one has and I think the success boils down to the fact that Mattel have generally been very good at presenting the doll at just the right point in a trend cycle," she says.

"She's aspirational but she's never too far ahead of the curve."

"I think there is a recognition today that doll play is important for children of all genders and as long as doll play is important I think they'll always be a place for Barbie."

The exhibition runs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow from Saturday until 18 October.