At the Barbie Exposition

This is what the weather did later Wednesday, after shopping.  It got worse.  This weather system pretty much goes on forever.  We're both wearing trail running shoes with mesh tops, so our feet were getting wet from the rain.  Nothing to do but find a museum.

Seven hundred Barbies are on display at the Institute of Decorative Arts.  The question we all want to know, is where did they get all of the dolls?  They have many of the originals, back when the eyelashes were three dimensional and not just painted on.

Barbie has held many jobs over the various decades.  This is Gulf War Barbie.

Politician Barbie.

I think this is Cabaret Dancer Barbie, either that or Dominatrix Barbie.

Surprisingly enough, this was Jim's favorite display.

That's Audrey Hepburn on the left, I can't remember who the one behind her is.

Tippie Hedren Barbie.

They had an entire room dedicated to outfits.  It was pretty cool how they arranged the colors from yellow to black.

Unfortunately, they were video taping this woman who went on and on about the cultural significance of Barbie, so I couldn't get a good shot of all of the outfits.

Mattel will do photo shoots of what Barbie and her friends are up to.  The sets are meticulously to scale.

The Barbie Atelier.

We got there just in time.  As we were leaving, the school kids were arriving.  This young woman was keeping her kids in line by showing them they needed to be within the span of her hands.  They were very well behaved, considering the foyer had become bedlam with all of the people coming in.

It was an interesting show.  Barbie is popular in 175 countries, she's not just an American thing.  She was first released in 1959.  Mattel claims to have invented her, but she was actually pretty much appropriated from a German doll, Bild Lilli.  It was good - and it was dry.