‘Barbie: A Cultural Icon’ Exhibition Explores 65 Years of Doll Fashion and Lifestyle Trends at the art and design museum.

Sixty-five years after Barbie made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York, the beloved white plastic doll returns to the Big Apple in “Barbie: A Cultural Icon ,” an exhibition by the Museum of Arts and Design.

“It’s really this nostalgic trip down memory lane,” MAD senior curator Barbara Paris Gifford told WWD.

After visits to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Duluth, Minn., “A Cultural Icon” makes its exclusive East Coast commitment to MAD during Barbie’s milestone anniversary.

The show, inspired by Karan Feder’s 2023 book “Barbie Takes the Catwalk,” features sixties fashion dolls and the life-size styles that inspired them. Era-defining elements such as Space Age, psychedelia and disco are reflected in the 250 dolls, as are collaborations with designers and labels such as Oscar de la Renta.

A pink leather suit from Moschino’s spring 2015 collection is displayed next to Mattel’s Moschino Barbie, a limited-edition doll that has a similar – albeit smaller – version of the look created by Jeremy Scott. The brightly colored scarf print dress from 1989, meanwhile, is paired with the Totally Hair Barbie from 1992, who imitates the same design.

Most of the dolls featured in “Cultural Icon” were donated by longtime collector David Porcello. “What we have on display is not even a quarter of his collection,” Gifford said. Feder’s book also contains dolls from Porcello’s collection.

“As it turned out, Mattel didn’t have a collection of Barbies,” Gifford continued. “They decided from the book that they wanted to do a show based on fashion.”

While kids will get a kick out of the giant doll display, Gifford suggests that the “Cultural Icon,” like Barbie herself, appeals to many people. The show includes many collectible pieces, such as those from the Barbie Silkstone line, aimed at adults. Older visitors may also recognize the dolls they grew up playing with.

“When moms bring their kids in, they can see their Barbie and say, ‘My Barbie had that too,'” Gifford explained.

In fact, Barbie was not always made for children: her successor, Bild Lilli, based on a German comic, was considered a pornographic doll for men. Lilli was the first inspiration for Barbie after Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler saw her at a convention in Germany. In 1964, Mattel bought the rights to Bild Lilli and stopped producing the doll, although her resemblance to the original Barbie – blue eyeshadow, ponytail and all – is striking.

Although Handler’s design could be borrowed, his idea was a book. As shown in the opening scene of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” much of playtime for little girls involved imitating the mother through the use of baby dolls.

“[Handler] she had the amazing insight to realize that little girls want to think about many different situations,” Gifford explained. “Having this doll with breasts and thinking about the future was something very special to enable girls to do it.”

“Barbie: A Cultural Icon” is on view now through March at the Museum of Arts and Design, located at 2 Columbus Circle.