For over six decades, Barbie’s cultural impact continues to be as iconic as New York City’s cultural tourism. This past winter, the worldwide-recognized toy was pinned at Columbus Circle inviting visitors to explore its women-empowered legacy.
The Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) presents Barbie: A Cultural Icon, an exhibition celebrating 65 years of the famous “You Can Be Anything” doll.
The two-floor exhibition features over 250 vintage dolls, life-sized outfits, photo-ops, archived TV advertisements and more. The supporting didactic texts across the exhibit elaborates on Barbie’s generational impact on women, fashion, careers, and pop culture.
Barbie: A Cultural Icon Exhibition
From October 19, 2024 – March 16, 2025, general admission tickets to MAD Museum during Barbie: A Cultural Icon are $20, or $14 for students. Similarly, the Design Museum in London also held a Barbie exhibit from July to February.
Barbie’s NYC exhibition, however, is a must-see. Upon riding up and entering the fifth floor, the mini runway of Gen X dolls is an immediate eye-catcher. The plexiglass display, protecting all 250+ dolls, expresses Barbie’s monumental significance.
Of course, Barbie could not exist without Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel with her husband Elliot. Barbie debuted at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959— a doll Ruth created with adult features so that girls can “play out” their future selves.
The MAD Museum mentioned these facts and more behind Barbie’s origins: like Ruth naming Barbie and Ken after her children, Barbara and Kenneth.
Fast forward to 2025, Barbie is one of the best-selling toys of all time. It evolved to reflect a variety of careers, ethnicities, body types, fashion trends, and allowed young girls to “be anything that she wanted to be,” as Ruth Handler says.
Barbie always represented the fact that a woman had choices.
Ruth Handler, “Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story” 1994
Barbie fashion
One of the most memorable parts of the exhibition is observing the tiny fabric details behind the display. The precise stitching, bold colors, clothing textures and fashion design is unique for every Barbie doll.
Whether it’s poofy dresses like the Pink Silkstone Barbie doll from the 2000 Fashion Model Collection, or the groovy 1967-68 Twist ‘n Turn Pajama Paw outfit: a close up view of every doll makes you realize it’s more than another mass-produced toy.
Special edition dolls, like Bob Mackie’s International Beauty Collection in the late 90s-early 2000s, go beyond Hollywood’s red carpet looks. The Fantasy Goddess trio at MAD Museum celebrates a “dramatic fantasy style” with dazzling outfits bigger than the doll.
“Over 200 careers and counting.”
Barbie: A Cultural Icon features five narrative sections highlighting Barbie’s ever-growing career journey.
Inspiration behind Barbie’s long resume is reflective of American history and politics. Barbie’s career embodiment from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and today, captures the influence of the Women’s Rights Movement.
Museum visitors meet 1965’s Miss Astronaut, 1996’s Pet Doctor in her original outfit, 2024’s Presidential Candidate/Future Leader and dozens more career-based dolls in between.
While women were breaking out of societal resistance and inequality, Barbie’s debut as a fashion model quickly evolved into a bigger inspiration.
Target Audience
MAD Museum’s Barbie exhibition is suited for visitors of all ages. Groups of friends, colleagues, parents with children, social media influencers, art critics and more were found admiring the pinkified 4th and 5th floor.
For some visitors, the exhibition was a trip down memory lane. People were reminiscing: “I used to have this doll case!” and “I had the original Barbie growing up.”
For Rosa Maria, visiting the exhibition for the first time, she never liked playing with dolls growing up. However, she appreciates the exhibition and reading excerpts learning about Barbie’s history.
Rosa Maria says buying Barbies nowadays isn’t the same, with her five-year-old niece more interested in her iPad and TikTok. “With Barbies, even though it’s not the best toy ever, they’re better educational toys that I prefer to give to my nieces. But Barbie at that time [1960’s] was really good for women.”
Christie, the first Black doll introduced in 1968, revealed “a significant shift in American attitudes about race.” MAD Museum spotlighted Christie with her own section and 3 dolls.
The experience
The display of dolls and some life-sized clothing, like Moschino, kept the exhibition visually interesting. “From Fashion Model to Fashion Icon,” Barbie served as creative inspiration to more than 150 designers, including Coach and Versace— with their dolls on display.
The exhibition also had a few Dreamhouse toy-styled TV’s. One replayed Totally Hair Barbie’s 1992 TV commercial, which became the best-selling Barbie in history.
Barbie: A Cultural Icon offered interactive photo opportunities, allowing visitors to pose with props that looked as if they were borrowed from Barbie’s Dreamhouse.
Some of the Instagrammable props include: a disco-themed backdrop, Ken’s surfboard, Barbie’s Dreamhouse couch, and sitting behind a sewing machine with a colorful outfit mid-stitch.
Barbie’s 1984 hot pink Ultra ‘Vette Corvette is the ultimate showstopper of the exhibition.
When the elevator opens on the 4th floor, Barbie’s breathtaking metallic car reveals itself like a winning prize from behind the curtain in The Price Is Right. Truly one of the best highlights from the exhibition and a one-of-a-kind photo opportunity to sit inside!
The Museum of Arts & Design store sold exclusive Barbie merchandise including t-shirts, 1959 Barbie-inspired pins, coffee table books, an accessory collaboration with Lele Sadoughi, a few dolls, and more.
A bit on the luxury side, Barbie merchandise at MAD Museum ranged from $12 to upwards of $200 and more. Two of the most affordable options were keychains and sunglasses, while the higher-end products were the Barbie x Lele Sadoughi collaboration and jewelry.
Barbie’s exhibition is a colorful world showcasing unique dolls from 2023’s Barbie Movie, the original 1959 doll, skin tones & disability inclusive dolls, vintage doll trunks, and more.
Barbie: A Cultural Icon will have its next exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio from April 4th to September 1st.
