Barbie: The Exhibition – 'just the thing for the summer holidays'

'Stylishly staged' show has the fun factor but veers into feeling like an advert

1992 Totally Hair Barbie
Visitors to the Design Museum in London are 'spoon-fed Mattel's rosy vision' of Barbie
(Image credit: Petra Rajnicova / Design Museum)

After Greta Gerwig's box-office smash, haven't we had enough of Barbie? The arrival of a sprawling new exhibition at London's Design Museum dedicated to the doll might feel a bit soon. 

But, said Laura Freeman in The Times, "Barbie: The Exhibition" is "fun, glossy, nostalgic, escapist and just the thing for the summer holidays". 

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Yet at times, the exhibition feels like a "big advert for Mattel", and much of the gallery text "reads as if it's been lifted straight out of a press release". Instead of acknowledging that "not everything in Barbieland is and always has been perfect", visitors are "spoon-fed" Mattel's rosy vision of how Barbie is a trailblazing toy that is "always ahead of the curve". 

While it is "stylishly staged", said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph, the exhibition "lacks the bite or wit" of Greta Gerwig's hit film, and the often "toothless interpretation" comes across like "smug, corporate hogwash". Anything that is "potentially troublesome" for the brand is conveniently airbrushed out. By the end, after being "whacked over the head with the marketing mallet" for the "umpteenth time", I searched fruitlessly in the gift shop for a "pink sick bucket".

Ultimately, said Lawrence in Time Out, while "Barbie: The Exhibition" is a "joyful celebration" of fashion, design and girlhood, you're left with the lingering impression that when it comes to Barbie, profit comes above all else. "Yes, she can be anything. Just as long as Mattel gives her the green light first."

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.