Plastic Fantastic
In Montreal, an unexpected encounter with some extraordinary dolls
If you enjoy reading this, please click the 🖤 above and share with others. If you want to support my work, you might consider becoming a paid subscriber.
“Ooh look—there’s the Queen!” I cry on spotting the late British monarch in a display of models portraying famous personalities. I’m in Montreal and no, this is not an offshoot of London’s Madame Tussauds. The figures here are made of plastic, not wax, they are dressed in high-fashion outfits and they are just over 11 inches tall.
This is Barbie Expo, the world’s largest permanent display of Barbies (or so claim the show’s creators) with more than 1,000 of versions of the doll Mattel launched in 1959, the one that took the world by storm when she starred in Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster movie.
It was not top of my itinerary when I’d planned this weekend getaway with two girlfriends. I’d eagerly anticipated visiting a North American city with a distinctly European atmosphere, seeing some of its striking wall murals and, of course, sampling its cuisine. Instead, I’m on the third floor of a shopping mall in the city’s business district surrounded by ranks of plastic dolls in brightly-lit cabinets.
Riding the escalators up through the rather desolate Les Cours Mont-Royal shopping mall, my friends and I aren’t sure what to expect. And approaching the expo, it looks little different from the soulless designer stores of retail hubs the world over.
On arrival, however, we are instantly enthralled. First, there’s the centerpiece: a miniature catwalk. With Barbie models strutting above them, Barbie buyers take notes while Barbie photographers snap away, their Barbie-sized cameras flashing tiny flickers of light. Behind the runway, Barbies are being dressed, coiffed and made up.
In the display of celebrities as Barbies (Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Cher among them), I look more closely at the royal Barbie in her blue riband and diadem. She’s not, it turns out, a Barbie version of Her Majesty but a Helen Mirren Barbie dressed as the Queen for the 2006 movie of the same name. It’s a worlds-within-worlds moment.
I’m a little taken aback by my enthusiasm for what’s on display here. I was never a Barbie devotee. Growing up in rural England, I had a Sindy, produced by a UK company called Pedigree, with outfits knitted or sewn by my grandmother and buttons that looked way out of scale.
Like my own Sindy, Pedigree’s doll ended up in the chest of long forgotten toys. Meanwhile, her American cousin went on to achieve a global appeal that was turbocharged by the movie’s release. Given the film’s success, I’m wondering why, when journalists were hungry for all things Barbie, they weren’t flocking to Montreal.
That, I learn, is because a couple of years ago, disaster struck. Severe thunderstorms and heavy downpours caused water damage to the ground floor of Les Cours Mont-Royal. The dolls were moved to a higher floor and the show closed. The timing could hardly have been worse. Barbie had premiered in Los Angeles just a few days earlier.
Happily the Barbies are out on display again. And there’s plenty of miniature bling to keep three adult professional women thoroughly entertained. Gowns with destination themes catch my attention. There’s one with angular shoulders and a blue chiffon skirt that conjurs up the Sydney Opera House, one in black-and-white whose shape follows the form of the Eiffel Tower and one emblazoned with an image of Big Ben.
For me, however, the stars of the show are the outfits created by some of the world’s top designers: an iconic Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress, a Jonathan Adler black-and-white graphic mini-dress, a spectacular Vera Wang bridal gown and several in fantasy creations by Bob Mackie—all in miniature.
The there’s the hair. As well as the classic Barbie cascades of blond locks, there are towering Afro creations on the heads of the models wearing Byron Lars outfits and shocking pink waist-length curls on a doll in a Tarina Tarantino tiara and oversized pearls.
When my friends and I drag ourselves away, we have smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts. We spend the rest of the weekend soaking up Montreal’s European atmosphere, tracking down its wall murals and sampling the wonderful cuisine. But on leaving, we are unanimous in our choice of the trip’s highlight: the time we spent in a shopping mall in the company of hundreds of plastic dolls.