Barbie hits 50
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At age 50, Barbie is no longer what you’d call a spring chicken. But she’s still trying her hardest to stay hip.
To celebrate the five-decade mark, Mattel announced today that it is launching a massive logistical operation to stuff the next year with parties, partnerships and products talking up the iconic doll.
“There’s never been a brand like Barbie,” said Richard Dickson, senior vice president of the brand. “This anniversary gave us a moment in time to unite all our preexisting relationships and more with an epic marketing platform that truly will be unprecedented for us and the toy world. The 50th will be the trophy year.”
Among the kickoff events, El Segundo-based Mattel is compiling a list of more than 50 top designers, including Diane von Furstenberg, Anna Sui and Vera Wang, who will present the first Barbie runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York on Valentine’s Day.
On March 9, event planner Colin Cowie is throwing Barbie a pink-splashed Malibu Dream House party at an actual beachfront residence decorated by interior designer Jonathan Adler. DJ AM is set to spin music for a roster flush with famous friends like supermodel Heidi Klum.
The 11.5 inch doll for years held an almost freakish grip on the imaginations and aspirations of young girls across the country and provided endless fodder for feminist sociologists and Burning Man artists.
The brainchild of Ruth Handler, mother of Barbara and Kenneth and wife of Mattel co-founder Elliot, Barbie made her debut at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. Since then, the doll has evolved through thousands of incarnations and 110 careers. On average, three Barbies are sold each second.
Read on for more events ...
Which is why the brand is opening its first flagship store in March with a six-story “retail-tainment” mecca in Shanghai that also features dining options and a spa. The National Barbie Doll Collector’s Convention in Washington, D.C. from July 7 to 11 is already sold out.
Along with exhibits and boutiques at Parisian store Colette and New York’s Bloomingdale’s, Barbie will be showing up on or inspiring specialized cell phones, luxury jewelry, stationary, candles, cosmetics from Stila, hair dryers from T3, candy bars from Dylan’s and décor pieces from Jonathan Adler.
A coffee table book chronicling the history and fashion of the doll, “The Barbie Book” by Assouline, is going for $500, while Bloomingdale’s will display 6-foot 2-inch tall mannequins designed by Rootstein. So the next step would be a movie, right?
Mattel’s Dickson had this to say: “We are navigating that opportunity very carefully and am very interested in bringing Barbie to the big screen when we feel appropriate. And when we do do it, it will be as epic as ever.”
For now, the Barbie squad seems content to just invade the World Wide Web. At age 50, Barbie will also officially be on Facebook.
--Tiffany Hsu
Photo, above: 50th anniversary Barbie doll. Credit: Barbie