I’M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A (REAL) BARBIE WORLD

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I’M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A (REAL) BARBIE WORLD

By Laura Martínez

  

Barbie, the world-famous doll created in 1959 by the co-founder of Mattel, Ruth Handler, is experiencing one of the biggest comebacks of all time. Textile giants are launching collections in her honour, and the colour pink is booming. The reason is because Greta Gerwig's film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, hits cinemas this weekend.

When Ruth realised that her daughter Barbara preferred to play with dolls with adult features rather than baby or infant toys, she came up with the million-dollar idea that would change children's entertainment for decades to come. Named after Barbara's daughter, the Barbie doll revolutionised the toy market and its premise, in Handler's own words, was "to allow girls to dream of everything they wanted to be." The doll has more than 100 careers on her resume, including as a doctor, teacher, adventurer, flight attendant, explorer...  and personifies a woman who makes decisions for herself. Barbie is the star of her own story.

The blonde-haired doll has changed physically over the years and adapted to the times, from her eyes (which changed in 1971 to look straight ahead and not sideways) to her body (more to less curvy, streamlined with longer legs) to her clothes, initially created by Mattel designer Charlotte Johnson and later designed by illustrious names such as Christian Louboutin, Vera Wang and Calvin Klein.

In 2016, Mattel launched Barbie with new body types and skin tones to make her more attainable and tangible for everybody. Often parodied and criticised for exemplifying unrealistic body standards, this was a big step forward for Barbie; girls and boys around the world could not only dream of being like her but were already much closer to identifying with their favourite doll.

However, controversy has never left the world's most famous doll. One of the Handler's children also inspired her male companion, Ken. Barbie is Barbie, and Ken... is just another accessory. But what if we were to bring all this to life? What if Barbie and Ken were two real people? That is the idea that Greta Gerwig's new film is based on.

Actress and producer Margot Robbie picked up the film's rights and convinced Gerwig to write and direct it. Although she was initially reluctant, Gerwig has won over film critics by making a movie that says something way more interesting than its superficial surface. Because, in the end, that's what Barbie and her whole world are like. 

Barbie and Ken finally come to life on the big screen. They will face difficulties they never imagined in their perfect "Barbie World". The real world is not as pink and as colourful as Barbie's, but we can think of several places where you can enter into her world.

 

First, the Tropicana hotel, located in the Playa D'En Bossa in Ibiza, could be where Barbie hangs out to a cocktail or two and take a dip in the MiMo-designed pool or take pictures under the shower in the shape of a Martini glass. Second, Paradiso Ibiza Art Hotel is the pink hotel par excellence. Its Art Deco aesthetics and essence of eternal summer make it the place where Barbie would celebrate her birthday or hen party. She would spend a night in her glass-walled room in the middle of the lobby, called the Zero Suite, sleeping in a pink satin robe and matching eye mask. Finally, Grand Paradiso is the most cinematic hotel in San Antonio Bay. There's no place better to play Barbie for a day… where a pink Cadillac El Dorado transformed into a hot tub is parked by the pool area.

 

Being like Barbie has never been so possible in the real world.