Barbie was sometimes far ahead of her time, says collector Bettina Dorfmann, her biggest fan and curator of the Barbie exhibition in Stadsmuseum Almelo.
She still suffers from the image of a dumb blonde, unjustly. Because in reality Barbie is more versatile and surprisingly emancipated, according to an exhibition in Stadsmuseum Almelo, which with more than 600 dolls is the largest ever in the Netherlands.
The dolls belong to the German collector Bettina Dorfmann, who herself was born in 1961, two years after toy manufacturer Mattel launched the very first Barbie. Her collection contains about 18,000 copies, making it the largest in the world; it is in the Guinness Book of Records. Dorfmann has organized exhibitions in different countries, from Singapore to Mallorca, this is her debut in the Netherlands.
As a child she liked to play with Barbies, says Dorfmann while she unwraps and arranges dolls the day before the opening in Almelo. At the age of fourteen she had no fewer than 28 copies: “Quite a lot, yes. I was often in hospital and then I got them as a gift. ” She kept them and passed them on to her daughter, but she turned out to have little interest in them. The girl liked new Barbies with recognizable clothes and attributes. “Then I saw that Barbie is a mirror of the times. My childhood dolls had a record player and manual typewriter, now they have an iPhone. ”
Barbie’s clothes also changed with the times; she has always been fashion conscious. In the sixties she was rock ‘n roll, in the seventies disco and hippie. Famous designers dressed her, including Dior, Versace and Givenchy. When Karl Lagerfeld passed away last year, the price of the already exclusive Lagerfeld Barbie suddenly skyrocketed. But Dorfmann’s most expensive Barbie is the first from 1959: it is worth about 8,000 euros.
America’s first female president
On a professional level, the Mattel doll was ahead of its time, as can also be seen in Almelo. Astronaut Barbie went to the moon in 1965, four years earlier than Neil Armstrong. And in 2016 she was America’s first female president. Also noteworthy is that Barbie has been unmarried to Ken for almost sixty years, they have always been in a lat relationship. In between, she dumped it for Australian surfboy Blaine, but after a restyling Ken managed to conquer her heart again.
And how diverse and inclusive is the Barbie family – one of today’s big themes – really? There is still no gay couple among them, says Dorfmann, but recently there are more or less gender-neutral dolls: “They are flat and you can choose the wigs and clothing yourself, male or female.”
At the insistence of parents of cancer patients, Mattel launched Ella the Chemotherapy Barbie in 2014, with a flowery dress, fun white boots and a bald head on which different wigs fit.
And in 2016 the toy manufacturer came up with four different body shapes – the “curvy” model can also be seen in Almelo – and seven different skin colors. Decades earlier, Barbie had had Asian and African American girlfriends. But no friends with a headscarf, says Dorfmann, because Mattel keeps away from religious symbols, lovers should make them themselves.
Barbie, from casual to glamor, can be seen from September 12 to January 31 in Stadsmuseum Almelo. Reservation required. In the Old Crafts & Toy Museum in Terschuur (near Barneveld) a smaller exhibition can be seen until December 30, “Barbie & Ken, a set for almost 60 years”. Those dolls come from the collection of Armel Rood, who has 400 of them.
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