Barbie was officially introduced to the world, sporting pouty red lips and a sassy blonde ponytail, on March 9 1959.
A staple of multi-generational childhoods, most of us can recall with delight or dismay being involved in Barbie adventures.
Many of us have Barbie dolls lurking in our attics – myself included.
Whilst I had no collectable boxed dolls to cash-in on the recent popularity of Barbie, I did have a treasure trove of well-played-with dolls, many with matted hair, rather than long silky blonde locks.
“Wow look how thin they are Mum". “Oh look, her waist can bend, but why doesn’t her knees bend” and “why does she have weird purple eyeshadow?”, were just some of the hilarious remarks from my 10-year-old daughter Abigail about my collection.
Her verdict on Ken was more positive. “They are better than the modern day Kens who just look so plastic,” she summarised – I wasn’t sure if she was referring to their faces that looked like they had Botox or the fact my old Ken could swivel his waist and flex his arms.
Whilst Barbie’s waist has expanded in recent years, Ken's has shrunk rather dramatically. The muscles are still evident, but the six-pack less so.
My favourite doll was my prized Crystal Barbie, launched in 1983, complete with holographic white dress and sparkly jewellery. Sadly, neither her dress, nor Ken’s white suit, survived the years.
With fabric conditioner treatment complete and hair restyled, Abigail set up to fit them out with a new wardrobe.
At just over a centimetre thinner than her 2023 equivalent, she deemed all her current Barbie clothes too big and baggy for mummy’s old Barbie and set about making her a new dress out of an old pair of pink sparkly tights and some loom bands.
The results were impressive and prove that the Barbie dolls are still inspiring creativity amongst young hands 64 years on.
As well as enabling her to practice dress design and sewing skills, when she was younger Abigail used her Barbies to master her hair plaiting skills - with the help of YouTube (of course).
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Barbie has continued to evolve with the changing times, including its diversity range, with a Barbie in a wheelchair and just last year a Barbie doll with hearing aids was introduced.
Barbie wellness dolls teach children to take care of their physical and mental health by taking part in activities like yoga.
In 2016 Mattel introduced Barbie Fashionistas. They came in four body types, seven skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hairstyles.
When my daughter was younger she couldn’t understand that, apart from her sisters, all the other dolls were also called Barbie and that you couldn’t buy any Barbie friends.
Once again, this sparked creativity and now Abigail has an array of Barbies called other names, each with their own backstory.
In recent years, she has also enjoyed making stop motion animations with her Made to Move Barbie dolls, which come with 22 joints.
As a child I wasn’t your stereotypical Barbie fan - I was a soccer-playing, animal-loving tom-boy who rarely wore pink and had posters of Liverpool footballers on my walls; but I still loved playing with my Barbies.
It was my escapism from life – and my two brothers – and much more fun than playing with baby dolls.
Barbie tenderly introduced me to the world of relationships; my Barbie actually ditched Ken in favour of my brother’s Action Man.
Barbie was glamorous, grown-up, and she had a career. Barbie could be whoever and whatever you wanted.
Over the years, Barbie has had more than 250 careers. She went to the moon in 1965, four years before Neil Armstrong. Since then, she has been everything from a doctor to a paleontologist, violinist and gymnast.
My daughter has the two latter sets, as well as a Barbie house, bakery, babysitter sets, a remote control car to name a few, and it’s lovely to see her spend many an hour playing with Barbies in her room, before the dreaded teen years relegate her collection to a box.
However, I must admit I am jealous of the array of Barbie dolls and accessories available to kids nowadays. Smyths Toys' website alone boasts 192 results for Barbie. Is this Barbie overload or is there value in being a Barbie girl?
It’s perhaps a bit extreme to call Barbie a feminist icon, but she is the only female-lead character in a movie blockbuster this summer. And in some ways, she is a sign of hope – if Barbie can change, can't anything change?
Today sees the release of the first live-action movie starring Margot Robbie. The film follows Barbie on her journey out into the real world and conveys the enduring message that Barbie is many things.
Promoting sisterhood and independence, movie audiences will even see Barbie consider existential topics like death and the purpose of life, proving there is much beneath the surface of hot pink eyeshadow.
To my shock, when I excitedly told my daughter about the forthcoming movie and showed her the trailer, her response was less than enthusiastic.
And this comes from a 'girly girl' who has watched numerous Netflix animated Barbie adventures over the years.
“That’s silly. It doesn’t look like them – Barbie doesn’t talk or act like that, she wouldn’t choose a Ken who looks like that (sorry Ryan Gosling) and that car and boat ride looks so fake,” was her response.
Perhaps she’s not quite mature enough to take that step beyond her world of belief or she’s a budding film critic.
Will I be watching the Barbie movie? Yes.
Will my daughter be accompanying me? That is still up for debate, but I think I should phone my old school mate for a long overdue girly night out.
Parents need a psychological dose of nostalgia from time to time. And who better than Barbie? She brings us back to our carefree days, when we believed we could do anything and be anyone.
