Barbie at The Design Museum: REVIEW!

Some of you might remember my scathing post about the recent Barbie film. I did however, commend them on the props and set, and I'm not sure I mentioned it but the end credits had a montage of the history of Barbie dolls through the ages, arguably the best part of the film. Well, like the film, this exhibition begins at the beginning: Barbie No.1. Iconic, resplendent, exceedingly pale, with a platinum high ponytail, graphic eye shadow, red lips, red nails, monochrome swimsuit, kitten heels. Calm, poised, sunglasses in hand. Mesmerising and transcending fashion and time. Luckily, this exhibition does not then disintegrate into a puddle of self congratulation, even as it does show the spirit of Barbie compromised for the good of society.

After all, as the exhibition coyly alludes, Barbie was inspired by a novelty German sex doll, Lilli  - a sexually provocative curvy doll which men could dress in different outfits, festoon their trucks with, joke gift, or generally see as a tool for their misogyny and superiority. How empowering then, that this was usurped by Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie. Young girls now had the option to play with aspirational (albeit impossibly beautiful and successful) adult dolls rather than doll versions of little girls and babies. I couldn't help but wonder if by allowing Barbie to be darker, curvier, shorter, disabled, humbled, and in summary, relatable, the very essence of Barbie was eroded. As once upon a time, being a model meant one gasped in awe, and today one most likely replies, yeah I'm also a model. These unattainable achievements were once the stuff of child's play, but today we all have apps and editing tools and skills which can be learned for free online or watched and absorbed via tutorials, and every condition or mood has its own social media ambassador. One needn't play alone and ascribe role playing when one can hop online and have a reddit thread with real people... And yet, Barbie still holds her allure. Last year the film was able to ignite 'Barbiecore'; there is still a thirst for the unapologetic Dream House, pink outfits, big hair - joy in the feminine power and its ability to threaten and reduce men. 

The various iterations of Ken pale into insignificance next to the hundred Barbie dolls. Always officially no more than Barbie's boyfriend, the unspoken and seemingly denied gay identity of some Kens - particularly "earring magic Ken" who some rather persuasively insist wears a cock ring on his necklace, are no more than a side show to Barbie's world.

A world where home ownership began before it began for real life women (women in US, up until almost the mid 1970s, were still denied mortgage applications unless they were married; Barbie homes however were introduced in the 1960s.) 

BARBIE FASHION DINING ROOM

SET, 1984

BARBIE MAGICAL MANSION, 1990

BARBIE FAMILY HOUSE,1998

BARBIE DREAM FURNITURE COLLECTION, 1978

The friends, who came to include by the 1960s "Coloured Francie" and more ‘on trend’ afro haired friends into the 70s, resulted finally in the first ever Black Barbie in 1980. Perhaps some latent 'othering' with the tagline on the box, "She's black! She's beautiful! She's dynamite!" But no use to nitpick when the general direction was clearly that of progress. Culminating in an animated Barbie anti racism video in 2020 following the George Floyd murder.

The interesting thing about the Design museum, and I did have a quick look around upstairs too, is the emphasis on branding, marketing and identity. In spite of the capitulations to a changing world and a changing audience, Mattel has succeeded in keeping hold of an unmistakable Barbie heartbeat. Perhaps it's the endearingly vacant gaze of a Barbie. Never haughty, yet always confident and knowing. A certain tilt of the head, or the long neck and splayed out arms.

 

The logo has come full circle, returning to its original 1959 script.

TWIST 'N TURN BARBIE DOLL, 1967

 

BEAD BLAST BARBIE DOLL, 1997

WALK LIVELY BARBIE DOLL, 1972

FASHION QUEEN

BARBIE DOLL, 1963

BARBIE DOLL, WEARING

'REGISTERED NURSE,

1961

GUINEVERE, 1964 

CINDERELLA', 1964

My favourite. The 1964 “Little Theatre” edition came with a script book, with doll-sized theatrical costumes (available separately, naturally.)

Barbie is on at The Design Museum London until 23rd February 2025

Recommended: 9/10

Guerlain terracotta blusher in 00 - REVIEW!

I’d been meaning to try the new range of Guerlain blushers, part of the terracotta line up now. As a huge fan of the terracotta range, I had to see how their blusher compared. The amazing thing about the terracotta bronzers and even the newer iteration of the bronzer in shade Nude, more a bonne mine powder, is how they seem to moisturise the skin. Anyway in short, the blusher doesn’t seem quite as moisturising. But it’s a fantastic high quality blusher. Buildable, translucent. If that’s not a contradiction in terms.

Because I have so many blushers, I decided 00 would be most unique. It’s described as a beige pink and I suppose it is but to me I see it as neutral and would work on anyone pale to medium. It’s a no makeup makeup blusher. Perfect for days when you have hours to spend looking like you didn’t have a minute to spend. A blusher which will make clear that luckily you’re just naturally radiant and beautiful and healthy…

Definitely a worthy addition to the terracotta tribe. In fact it’s a small collection and I’m tempted to collect them all… They’re arranged as usual for Guerlain, into warm and cool and pale and deep. 00 being warm, 01 being cool; two deep shades, one warm one cool. Top it off with meteorites powder for seamless elegance. 

                                             00 applied:

#blusher #guerlain #00

Estée Lauder blockbuster set 2023 Review

Every year, Estée Lauder famously brings out a blockbuster set. Perfect for breaking up and filling Christmas stockings, these are eagerly anticipated by many. This year, the box is rather different because it has fewer makeup items and sample sizes, instead they've decided on several full size skincare items and a few makeup items. As usual, the box is worth much more than you pay for it. In Black Fridays past, you were able to buy the box alone. This year it was the usual routine of having to spend a minimum amount and then buy the box for £85 but you got 20% off the qualifying purchases.

I bought a lip balm set and a lipliner to qualify. 

The skincare items are

Advanced Night Repair 30ml (everyone’s fave)

New Advanced Night Cleansing Gelée with 15 Amino Acids 75ml, deluxe travel size (good for travel, never tried before but looks good)

Revitalizing Supreme+ Youth Power Creme moisturiser 15ml. (Sample size - giving it away)

1 x Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Gel-Creme Synchronized Multi-Recovery 15ml, full-size (not tried but looks good)

1 x Gentle Eye Makeup Remover 100ml, full-size. (This one is made in China which horrified me. But I’m sure it’s a good one. My favourite is Lancôme but this will be useful or given as a gift)

The rest is makeup…

 1 x Limited Edition Eye Shadow Palette in CELESTIAL GLAM, deluxe travel size (.24 oz./7g) Includes 6 shades

This is very powdery with a lot of kickup and aside from the pink shade, they are very meh very boring. The compact is cute but very cheap looking and wouldn’t make a very impressive gift. Looks very much like a GWP. They used to have gold casing etc. A step down.

2 x Limited Edition Lipsticks, full-size in Starlet Red (A vibrant red with a warm undertone and creme finish) and Saturn Reign (A blue-hued pink with a cool undertone and creme finish.)

These are a moisturising formula and somewhere along the line Estée Lauder has lost that fruity scent and gone for a more vanilla scent (I like that) but again, both these shades are meh. I was excited for the pink to be a bit like MAC Candy Yum Yum but it’s more sedate. It’s not as fun on the lips as it looks like it would be in the tube. Both lipsticks are creamy and a bit sheer until built up. The red is very bold and not great on me but they’re both safe shades. And they have wonderful engraving (but the casing again is a bit cheap and GWP) however overall I think they would make good gifts.

2 x Limited Edition Lip Glosses, deluxe travel size in Divine Plum (A deep wine with a creme shine finish.) and Ruby Quartz (A rich red with a creme shine finish. These will be gifted as I am not a gloss fan. They would make cute gifts.

1 x Double Wear 24H Stay-in-Place Lip Liner, full-size in 07 Red

This is a great liner and I’m a huge fan of Estée Lauder lipliners but for me it’s a bit too red and warm. When wearing red I prefer the more pink MAC Cherry liner. The pencil is the exact same shade as the lipstick. I tried it with the pink lipstick and it wasn’t bad but really the pink is left orphaned. I wore the pink with a pink liner I already had.

1 x Sumptuous Extreme Lash Multiplying Volumizing Mascara, full-size. 

Again, Lancôme is my go-to for mascara, but I have used this one before and it’s very good and I’ll definitely use it. 

There was no blusher or highlighter palette this year, much to many an outrage.

Then the train case - huge and a bit tacky and I will be giving it away but it’s fun and very Christmassy.

Overall it’s definitely worth the £85 spend. Supposedly it’s worth £411! I would only say if you’re a fellow makeup fiend, you’ll already own all of these shades. Aside from the red lipstick, none of it is Christmas themed which is a safe move but a bit disappointing as I love sparkle around this time of year.

Some eye looks and lip looks:

The Cult of Beauty: Exhibition review

There has always been a fine line between beauty as an enchanting glimpse into the heavenly, and beauty as a self obsessed and devilish vanity. Particularly as a woman, this balance is precarious if not doomed.

Death and the devil attack two women who are looking in a hand-held mirror

David Funck, printed late 1600s,

Germany

The exhibition begins with the usual suspects: a reproduction of the Nefertiti bust, reproductions of  reclining Roman sculptures - including the sleeping hermaphrodite (a sensuous mattress later added by Bernini) and moves on to vanitas with the inevitable cartoons mocking such obsessions with attaining worldly beauty.  The way the exhibition is set out is quite haphazard and patchy, with some sections absolutely captivating and some leaving you cold.

Overall I really enjoyed it although it didn’t have the most linear direction and it doesn’t speculate as to the future of beauty. It ends with a sombre look at beauty today. Which naturally is: obsessive selfies and a bland state of endless copycat looks on social media. There was an excellent section discussing how mirrors were originally made from copper and then bronze for instance: The ancient Egyptian mirror they had on show, gave a hazy approximation of one’s reflection. It was strange to look into a mirror like that. 

Ancient Egyptian bronze mirror

Unknown maker

800-100 BCE, Egypt

To know that in ancient times, your audience and the way people looked at you was your mirror; you would never truly see yourself aside from this blurry image. And this they positioned alongside - well who else? - Kim Kardashian and her ‘ironic’ book of selfies, “Selfish.” They could have then built on this notion of how far we’ve come from near blindness of one’s physicality to this omnipresent ability to take selfies and be filmed every time we emerge, to perhaps wonder what the future will be. Perhaps a time when we can see ourselves in 3D not 2D, perhaps even talk or interact with ourselves to the point that future beings would wonder, how did people in the olden days bear to only know themselves as 2D images? But, nothing is said about future projections. And nothing is said about how beauty is connected to health. Instead the exhibition focuses on attempts to attain beauty via makeup, ointments, fashion, medicine, or tools.

Not that this is not a fascinating angle. The highlights for me were: a section recreating beauty recipes aka “Renaissance goos” from the 1500s (apparently often made by Jewish women immigrants who had been expelled from Spain in 1492.) There was an accompanying video showing the recipes being followed and the resulting creams. I would be tempted to buy a jar! 

Ivory mortar and pestle, carved with cherubs, alchemy scenes and a snake

Unknown maker

1501-1700, Europe

Then, a life size Barbie which was both startling and sad. It was so wholly unrealistic and served as ultimate proof that Barbie really always was unattainable beauty which could never occur in real human life. 

Lifesize Barbie and Oriol

Adel Rootstein Ltd.

2009, Germany

The section on beauty spots and corsets and the accompanying Georgian satirical cartoons were expected but no less amusing for it. 

A dandy being laced into a tight corset by two servants

1819, England Thomas Tegg

A young woman greeted by a brothel keeper with prominent beauty patches

A Harlot's Progress series

William Hogarth

1732, England

And the section on trans although not really about beauty anymore, in fact to count in within beauty seemed to trivialise it I thought. But nonetheless quite powerful. A somewhat gory couple of jars hold a breast each. The accompanying plaque quote their original owner, E-J Scott. “In this photo, you can see me holding up a jar of my own chest tissue. In front of the photo, you can see the same artefact. A cis-gaze will inevitably try to piece the body and the person back together. But this optical exercise defies resolution: I have curated my gender with intentionality. My intention is that your inspection does not interrupt my self-reflection.”

This section also had some seemingly innocuous items collected by trans individuals. Handwritten notes about what the objects meant to them and how they had helped them to change their outer body to match their true selves. It was then followed by some modern art installations which made very banal and hackneyed points about how hard it is to be yourself (or whatever a sculpture made out of your mum’s old photos and nighties is meant to conjure up.) 

And then some flashing videos of tik tok etc beauty looks all merging into one being with no individuality whatsoever. Well we knew that too and these hardly need their own section. 

All in all though I found it very interesting and I liked the commentary on L’Oréal’s master stroke marketing line “Because I’m worth it!” Guilt tripping women into thinking if they don’t buy it then they’re admitting they’re not worth it. Genius. And this line is still used today. That’s sobering. 

Men also feature and are also mocked, to a lesser extent. Their position is as the nasty voice abusing and mocking women through the ages. This via cruel cartoons, or cataloguing and awarding women’s beauty rankings. 

Hogarth again.Wigs classified in a parody of the orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture

   William Hogarth

     1761, England

But, beauty is not just about pleasing others, it is also about the joy of lavishing oneself. And, at times this came across. The ancient Egyptian beauty products in the shape of a turtle, a woman, or a fish, exhibited alongside a 20th Century items such as a British airways compact (lent by Lisa Eldridge of course - who else has such fine trinkets!) 

The section on ethnic beauty was promising but too self consciously done. And putting Rihanna’s makeup in there felt a little gratuitous. She is not above straightening her hair and capitulating to society’s expectations. I don’t believe even if her collection has the most shades, that it was the first to welcome dark shades for the masses. It felt as if the last few sections of the exhibition moved away from a joyful celebration of adornment and took a more watchful approach. The shadow of cancel culture loomed at times.

The Book of Fair Women, German photographer E.O. Hoppé 1810

Josephine Baker in banana skirt , 1930s

The final section left the exhibition on a flat note. Plastic surgery epitomised by a harrowing photograph of a young woman being inspected before getting new breasts, and a despondent vision of chasing beauty being something shameful and to be struggled against.

However the fascinating sections were brilliant… so for that reason I would still give this a solid 4/5

The Cult of Beauty 26 October 2023 – 28 April 2024 - Wellcome Collection