Barbie World

Last weekend I wondered to the Shanghai Barbie House. It has some 6 floors, and boasts a Barbie Spa, a Barbie Cafe, and heaps of Barbie things: Barbie Jelly Beans, Barbie chocolate (and chocolate Barbie, keep on reading...), umbrellas, towels, sun glasses, clothes and whatnots.

...I am a Barbie girl...
... in a Barbie wooo ooorld...

Do you remember the perky Aqua song from the 90's? It is almost unbearable, no, forget the almost, unbearable, and it was played NON-STOP in the Barbie House.

Hi Barbie!
Hi Ken!
Do you wanna go for a ride?
Sure Ken!
Jump In...

I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie worldLife in plastic, it's fantastic!
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere.
Imagination, life is your creation.
Come on Barbie, let's go party!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. And that is what they play in the shop that sells children's toys :o) Speaking of which: there actually weren't many children present. Most people were clearly out of their teens. A lot of Asian couples together.

I like these different nationality-Barbies. Of course they don't have a Finnish one.

But isn't it great that nowadays Barbie Girls can do anything? Be anything? Of course there have been plenty of options before, but they have been the likes of "Great Shape Barbie Doll (from 1984), Olympic Gymnast Barbie Doll (1996), horse riding Barbie, Art Teacher Barbie Doll (2002) or Flight Attendant Barbie. But now. Now you can be a President! President Barbie Doll.

There is a strange echo in that. President... Barbie... DOLL.

Of course you can also be a TV Chef Barbie.

I bet they have a Reality TV Barbie too.

At least they should.


Then there are vintage Barbies, like the "Original Teenage Fashion Model".

And look at these ladies:

Beyonce and Marilyn have their own dolls...

...as do Elvis and Pricilla. I can fully understand that they do. Legends that they are (maybe Beyonce excluded).

But why, of why, has Hershey's Chocolate its own Barbie? What a manipulative, corruptive world we live in. To lure all those children from the beginning.... how sad.

Of course nearly all Fashion Houses like Versace, Donna Karan, Armani, Vera Wang, Caroline Herrera and even Hello Kitty have their own Barbie designs... No doubt they, too, have some reasons to do that :o)

This might be my favourite one, surprisingly dressed in black gown by some real-world fashion designers whose names I forgot in a split second. It was Badgley-Mischka, I think.

Aren't they pretty in a very plastic-unrealistic kind of way? It is funny: I think these dolls give girls totally wrong image what should be aspired in life (I think I've became old and petty and hypocritical!), and how thin one's waist should be... But on the other hand I so wanted to buy one when visiting this place. I had heaps or Barbies when I was yong, and I think only one of my problems can even remotely be connected to playing with Barbies. Namely the delusion that I need a wardrope with about a dozen or so evening gowns and about 30 dresses. And preferably a new outfit every week. Or two. But then again I might have inherited it from my mother, too.



Yeah, I am pretty sure that was it.

Edited 10.6.09:

You can find the House of Barbie:

Huai Hai Zhong Lu 550

(By metro: Huang Pu Road Station

or Shan Xi Road Station)

PSFK told in their website:

Mattel has been hyping their massive flagship store in Shanghai for a while now and this past weekend, the $30 million “House of Barbie” finally opened to generally rave reviews. Malcolm Moore of The Telegraph covered the opening, getting right to the point: “I’ll say it straight away - I think the store is the work of a clinical marketing genius and that it will be a huge success in Shanghai. “