Barbie Girls!

After hearing about Mum and Dad's visit to a Barbie exhibition during their stay in Mexico, Zoe and I obviously had to take that trip to the Franz Mayer (below) to see it for ourselves.
Celerating 50 years of the plastic icon, the exhibit shows Barbie reflecting the times and pop culture throughout the past half century.

Above: Gone with the Wind; Below: Wonderwoman and Bond
From French maid to baseball player to American president Barbie could both conform to and challenge sexist stereotypes.

She was created by Ruth Handler to offer a different type of doll that was neither a child nor a baby. She was named after Handler's child, Barbara, as was Ken (a little disturbing this me thinks.)

The exhibit displayed Barbies from all around the world, including Mexico (of course...)

...and Blighty (spot the British Barbie hahaha);

The exhibit also demonstrates Barbie's role in fashion and to celebrate her 50th Birthday, designers from all round the world have created new outfits for her. Below is one by a Mexican designer that I particularly liked;

In case visitng a Barbie exhibit full of young children was not barking enough, Zoe and I could not resist a photo in the Barbie boxes outside the exhibit (although some 5 year olds did have to be fought off first)

Overall it was a really fun day and we left with Aqua's Barbie Girl song stuck firmly in our heads (however, should anyone ask, I never owned a Barbie and grew up with educational toys only [- oh how I loved my junior laboratory and mini calculator!])