Barbie: The Icon by Massimiliano Capella; Glitterati Incorporated, $16.95
I remember years ago searching for a roommate situation in San Francisco, and one particular apartment I ventured to for an interview proved quite shocking. After a somewhat solemn 30-minute conversation about the overly strict house rules and regulations I would have to follow to move into this guy's place, my stony-faced potential roommate escorted me down a hallway to a sacred room I was never to enter, ever. He was more than happy to open the door and reveal a room covered in bright pink walls with candy-colored shelving units and tables where hundreds of Barbie dolls had been meticulously staged and posed. He was a die-hard doll collector, and his throng of insanely rare Barbies was priceless (to him personally, and on eBay, I would assume). That afternoon, surrounded by gloss and glitter, I recognized the sheer intensity (and slight creep factor) of extreme doll-collecting.
For those folks with obsessive collections of their own or even readers with just a passing interest in Barbie, author and Italian art and fashion scholar Massimiliano Capella has produced Barbie: The Icon, an artistic, five-part retrospective of the 56-year-old toy sensation that has, for many decades, continued to dazzle and inspire the imaginations of young girls (and boys, for that matter).
The production value of this glossy pictorial is exceptional and makes it a required item for Barbie aficionados. Inside, the snippets and factoids on the iconic doll, her history, evolution, and influence on domestic and international culture appear on just about every page, beginning with Barbie's creation in 1959 by Barbara Millicent Roberts, greatly inspired by Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Sandra Dee in "a combination of femininity and beauty."
Capella writes that Barbie as a style icon reflected the essence, nuances, cultural and aesthetic changes of each era of her evolution. Designers from Bob Mackie to Moschino, Calvin Klein to Karl Lagerfeld and way beyond worked overtime to construct complete ensembles perfectly representative of their unique signature lines.
A section on the making of Barbie is engrossing, as are details of how the doll is mass-produced, constructed, and meticulously painted, hair-styled, and dressed. There is as well a "Ken in a Nutshell" page, all about Barbie's handsome partner (although they broke up in 2004).
There have been many incarnations of Barbie over the decades, and all of them are featured in the book, including the Showgirl Barbie Doll in 2008, the Fashion Photo Barbie in 1978, and the Barbie in Black and White inspired by Jean Patchett in an April 1, 1950 Vogue cover.
Fascinating timelines on the evolution of Barbie as well as her many incarnations in countries all over the world decorate and exhaustively inform this psychedelically-colored coffee-table book many will consider to be the ultimate Barbie authority. With its expansive array of details, photographs, and history, this is a must-have, comprehensive Bible about a doll who "always represented the fact that a woman has choices. Everything is possible," according to Barbie's inventor and past president of Mattel Ruth Handler.
The Barbie: The Icon museum exhibit, a five-month extravaganza, just closed in March 2016 at the Museo delle Culture in Milan, Italy, and was curated by Capella himself, in collaboration with Mattel. Both this book and the companion art exhibit continue to demonstrate Barbie's importance to youth and world culture, and the lasting endurance of a toy that has enriched countless lives and enchanted millions.