“Barbie: The Fashion Experience”’ opened Saturday at the museum, which will be its only stop. Sarah Cole, the museum’s special and temporary exhibits manager, said she worked with toy maker Mattel to put together the exhibit.
“Our Barbie collection was good,” Cole said, “but not as strong as Mattel’s.”
Barbie was introduced to the world at the 1959 New York Toy Fair. Creator Ruth Handler said the doll, based on the German Bild Lilli dolls, represented that women had choices.
The exhibit features a photo timeline of Barbie, life-size Barbie mannequins and a design center where children can create their own fashions using dress forms, computer games and light tables.
Workshops on T-shirt designing, special runway shows and fashion shows also are offered, and visitors can watch Barbie commercials from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
But a highlight might be the chance to strut down a Barbie catwalk after getting made up.
Makeup artist Misty Al-eryani, founder of FierceLooks, has three looks for children to apply from hygienic single-use trays.
Al-eryani said she created the looks after thinking about her four daughters and other children, and how they would interact with the doll.
“I wanted them to feel as if they were Barbie’s best friends or Barbie’s little sister,” she said.
Warhol’s 1985 Barbie painting is also part of the display. It is the first time the work has been displayed outside California.
The exhibit runs through February 2011.
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-CS-12-20-09 1401EST
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