Jennifer Saunders<\/a>, the museum’s director. Saunders started in this role in September and has talked about museum renewal, as well as finding ways to have the museum \u2014 which has been under scrutiny over the past decade for its lack of updates \u2014 better serve the community. This is the first traveling exhibit to come to the museum under her guidance. But, she said, traveling or pop-up exhibits should be a regular part of the cultural space moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe exhibit walks visitors through the decades, showcasing more than 150 vintage dolls, artifacts and life-sized fashion pieces. In preparation for the opening, a representative from Mattel was on site to style the doll’s hair and outfits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the star attractions: an original 1959 Barbie doll, complete with the famous black-and-white swimsuit that started it all. Guests will also see an original Barbie Dreamhouse (it’s much, much smaller \u2014 and more simple \u2014 than the house of today), a retro reminder of how far plastic real estate has come.<\/p>\n
And yes \u2014 this is a bring-your-phone, charge-your-battery outing. In each decade, there is a selfie opportunity. Museum-goers can pose with Malibu Barbie’s surfboard, sit in her swinging chair or lounge in the living room of the dream house. But it doesn’t stop there. The museum has loaded the space with photo ops, including life-sized doll boxes and a full-size Barbie ultra \u2019vette stationed in the lobby. Visitors can climb in, pose and live out their Malibu-meets-museum moment.<\/p>\n
Beyond the nostalgia and neon, the exhibit highlights the cultural ripple effects of Barbie\u2019s careers, clothing trends and evolving representation. From her early days as a fashion model to her modern roles that reflect a broader range of identities and professions, the exhibit tracks the doll\u2019s place in American pop culture \u2014 and the conversations she\u2019s sparked along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbie: A Cultural Icon\u201d opens Saturday at the New York State Museum in Albany. Admission is free, and the outfits (and selfies) are up to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She\u2019s worn everything from a ball gown to a lab coat. She\u2019s been an astronaut, a surgeon, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30394,844,610,9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-61910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-latestnews","10":"tag-local","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-state","15":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}