Big-eyed, blonde, and beautiful, Barbie took over the world in 1959 with little more than a white-and-black striped bathing suit and a pair of high heels. Today, Mattel sells three Barbies a second, and children in more than one hundred and fifty countries know her name.Now, on her fiftieth anniversary as cultural icon, Assouline presents the ultimate collector s volume on the world s most popular doll. Encapsulating her history, chronicling her fashion, and imagining her life as a woman of mystery, glamour, and fun, Barbie presents this totemic figure as never seen before in vivid dioramas of Barbie at work and play and in portraits of vintage dolls and accessories. A muse for children and adults, designers and artists, writers and cultural critics, Barbie remains a powerfully evocative and enigmatic reflection of our dreams, our hopes, and ourselves.