Colette - Barbie's 50th Anniversary (Paris, France)

(image: Elle)

I'm a bit late with this one, but it's too fun to ignore. As some may know, everyone's favorite blond doll is celebrating her 50th anniversary this year and as the master of special collaborations, Colette has been hosting Barbie parties and exhibitions all month. I finally got around to checking out the actual floorspace dedicated to Barbie a few days ago, so I thought I'd share. For the whole of last week, Colette had their shop window decorated with life-sized Barbie mannequins, complete with giant Barbie packaging filled with items such as the 2880 EUR mini Goyard trunk and Stila cosmetics.

If that's not enough merchandising, the 1st floor is where you need to be. Towards the back, the split level area is dedicated to all limited edition Barbie products available, as well as the Karl Lagerfeld photo exhibition one floor up. Having seen all the photos before, I gravitated towards the colorful goodie section first. I loved all the giant pink poodles that were standing around, but apparently they were not for sale (damn). Nevertheless, I had a good time browsing the rack of Jeremy Scott trench coats and dresses; for less pricey apparel there was a nice selection of t-shirts and tank tops with various Barbie-related prints. The middle table had all the Stila items neatly laid out, although I kept getting distracted by the huge pink 4-tiered birthday cake (made to look like a dress with the doll's upper body perched on top) - no, it's not edible.

The most bizarre and therefore interesting product for me was the jewelry by Margaux Lange, which basically consisted of Barbie's body parts, such as the necklaces featuring her eyes or the bracelets made of multiple hands. Bless designed a somewhat crazy hairbrush, which has blond hair integrated where bristles used to be, while Alexis Mabille created something for the gents: a bowtie with Ken's head in the middle. If you're a traditionalist, there's a nice display of various (complete) Barbies and if you're not tired of all the Barbie-related Fashion Week themes yet, there's also the special edition dolls styled by Roksanda Illincic and Danielle Scutt. Hungry? Why not pick up some chocolates courtesy of Dylan's Candy Bar or head down to Colette's own water bar, where Ladurée have created Barbie-themed delicacies. If you're more into tech stuff, there's a Barbie mp3 player as well or for home decor, take a look at the Kartell Barbie chairs.

One more product of note: the Bruno Frisoni shoes stored in a glass case in a corner. I hope the image is descriptive enough, but so you know, there is an entire Barbie attached to the back of the shoe, with her legs serving as the high heel. Not sure if one could walk in those, but they're available for purchase.

After all this, I made my way up to the Lagerfeld exhibition. As mentioned, I was familiar with all the images, but it was still nice to see the shots in person. The clothes (designed by Mr. Karl of course - one outfit looked like it could have come straight out of his own wardrobe) are beautiful and even though it may seem odd that real model Baptiste Giabiconi (as Ken) is posing with a doll, it somehow works.

If you're in Paris at the moment, I'd urge you to check this out. The Barbie anniversary special is on until the end of the month, so it's not too late to pick up a souvenir! If you're not in town, no worries - most items are also available online.

(individual images: Colette)

Address: 213 rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
Opening Hrs: Mon-Sat: 11:00-19:00
Colette Homepage & Online Shop