Barbie superfans: ‘I moved country to feel closer to her’

I’m not trying to be Barbie, but she is the biggest part of my life. She’s literally one of the main reasons why I chose to leave Japan and live in the States, so I could feel closer to her. When I told people I was moving country for Barbie, lots of them were surprised. I explained I wanted to be a Barbie blogger and walk on the pink carpets. I didn’t expect everyone to understand. But now I am a Barbie influencer – she’s my whole life.

I am also the Chair of the Japanese Barbie convention and I go to the US Barbie convention every year. The toy doll community is huge, there’s about 1000 of us. I love meeting new people and we’re all united for our love for Barbie.

I do actually have a Ken of my own too – he’s called Yushi and we met in 2022. It’s great because he likes me because I am such a Barbie super fan – I actually custom made a Ken doll just for him.

I love him but I’m still independent. A Barbie needs to be happy by herself, without a Ken.

I know Barbie is a doll, but I feel like we have some things in common on the inside. She gives off such happy girl vibes and I feel like I’m the same way. She makes my life a trillion times better.’

It is like an addiction

Aaron Bevan, 29, lives in Croydon and started his Barbie collection in lockdown. He now designs clothes for all 400 of his dolls.

‘I was about six when I got my first Barbie – a hand-me-down from my cousin. I had a special scuba diving Barbie, which was my favourite. I loved animals as a kid and they came with small sea creatures, while Barbie had flippers and an oxygen tank.

My mum wasn’t really keen on me having Barbies when I was a kid, but it was my dad who said: ‘If you want that, then that’s fine.’ Mum felt she couldn’t really stop me after that!

As a kid, I loved all the colours and clothes and materials that Barbie had. They looked so much better than the boys toys – or rather, what people say are boys toys.

When I was studying for my Masters degree in 2019, I moved back home to Kent. My MA in Printed Textiles was all about looking at nostalgia; I got a job at a charity shop at the time and I started getting out some of the old dolls that I used to have. I began photographing and drawing from them, as well as making prints out of the toys.

‘It was during the pandemic that I started to ramp up my doll collecting, especially I started watching Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse – the animated Barbie mini-series – as it was something to watch on Netflix. We couldn’t go out, or buy clothes, but we could stay home and play with toys. A lot of other Barbie collectors I know felt like lockdown was a turning point for them – nothing really mattered, so we all started buying dolls.

I actually had no interest in Barbie when I was a little kid – it wasn’t until I got older that I got hooked.

When I was about nine or 10, I really got into fashion. I loved looking at all the different collections and discovering the rarity of some lines, which made those dolls really special.

I loved seeing Barbie in her big ball gowns and losing myself in the fantasy of the amazing fashion. Some of the world’s biggest designers – Balmain, Vera Wang – have collaborated with Barbie and I just found it so fascinating.

I got my first doll when I was nine – she was a silkstone collectors doll. Now I’m about to turn 23, and I have around 200 dolls, which is a fair amount – although the biggest doll collectors amass around 2000.

I would say my collection is worth £5000 upwards. I haven’t bought them all myself. I’ve been lucky, a lot have been gifts from people. Every birthday and Christmas, I ask for a Barbie. A lot of my dolls are quite special to me because they’ve been given to me from treasured people in my life. But there’s different dolls that a lot of mainstream shoppers wouldn’t know about, such as the one-of-a-kind dolls you can only get in conventions, and they can start from about £1000 upwards.

Asking me to choose a favourite doll is like asking me to choose a favourite child – it changes every week! I like my Queen Elizabeth II Barbie doll, that shot up in price after she passed away last year. Some are selling online for around £1000 now.

I think a lot of my friends think my doll collection is cool, and I’ve met some of the most loving, wonderful people through the Barbie community – but there is a lot of politics in there too.

It’s funny to see people fighting over dolls. It’s not what you expect as people take doll collecting incredibly seriously. I’ve never been so involved as I only tend to collect the ones I like.

I think the movie has made it cool to love Barbie again. Initially when I was collecting, I didn’t tell anyone about it because I felt embarrased as I was in my late teens.But as I’ve got older, I worry less about what people think, as I feel people understand and see the beauty in it.

I plan to keep collecting for the rest of my life but I wouldn’t say I’m as excessive as some people, who need to have two of everything – a boxed version and one unboxed version.

Barbie, like humans and life, is always evolving. There is a lot more diversity in the collection now, her style adapts as it changes with the times. It doesn’t feel like there’s anyone who can compete in the doll market. There’s a lot who have tried, but there’s nothing that takes away the iconic name that Barbie has become.’