It’s the summer of Barbie. The 64-year-old Barbara Millicent Roberts, to give her full name, has long been a global icon, alternatively revered and reviled. But thanks to Greta Gerwig’s movie, which stars Margot Robbie as Mattel’s golden girl and Ryan Gosling as some guy called Ken, she is having a pop culture moment like never before.
For Barbie’s long-time collectors, though, the doll’s appeal is nothing new. “There were moments in my life when I was like, I should grow out of it or try and distance myself,” says 30-year-old Londoner Joey, who works for a theatre charity and runs the YouTube channel Beauty Inside a Box, which is dedicated to all things doll-related. “But I always just came back to Barbie.”
