Index:
Bild-Lilli, Barbie's predecessor
Barbie's Manufacturers Markings
Barbie's friends and relatives
Barbie through the ages, 1959 - 2009
Barbie luxury doll to massproduction
The five different collector types
many people were split into supporters and adversaries of the blonde doll,
Despite all the normal appearance, her charm and all her unspectacular, peaceful kindness
there has always been a reason for disputes between fundamentalists,
conservatives and tolerant youth supporters but also many collectors
about this 11.5 inch vinyl doll. Barbie reflects all the fashion developments and the spirit of the ages
from the late fifties until today, and it all started with its German example the „Bild-Lilli“.
Historically the Barbie doll is admitted to incorporate a cultural significance, which she derserves:
to be more than just a toy, much more a genuine image of all the trends of our time
in the second half of the past century – from flower power movement to pop art up to the punk era.
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Mattel, Inc. /
333 Continental Boulevard / El Segundo, CA 90245-5012 USA
This continuous
popularity for fifty Years, of course thanks to a genious and uncompromising
strategy of marketing
would justify to have a museum only for these 11.5 inch fashion dolls
also in Europe
(particularely in Germany or Switzerland).
Finally the great
grandmother of all these dolls had been created in Germany.
For a couple
of Years now some time limited exhibitions are touring around Europe,
where Barbie
joined forces with the LEGO company and their plastic-bricks,
which have remained
the same just as well following the trends of time.
But a permanent
presentation of all the 11.5 inch fashion dolls in a single museum
have not yet
been realized up to today, with the exception of a very modest part
in the Munich
toy museum or another display on a single floor in the castle toy-museum
of Prague/CS.
This ist he main
reason why we are thinking about founding such an institution here in Switzerland,
it remains to
be seen where and when a suitable location can be found.
