I’ve never been the same since the six-floor Barbie store on Huaihai Lu closed down in March. It took all the pinkness out of my life and left my Shanghai days dreary and gray after having been my form of escapism since a friend first dragged me there two years ago.
So, I was more than a little excited when, walking around Hong Kong’s Times Square last night, I saw The Unmistakable Glow of Barbie Pinkness coming from the second floor. The small exhibit and Barbie shop were roped off for a press and VIP preview, but after telling staff how desperately I had loved the Barbie store in Shanghai, and that I was the proud possessor of a Barbie passport (worldwide privilege, right?), they let me and my companion in.
It’s a temporary Christmas display, running from November 17 (today!) until January 1, 2012. “Some of the materials here, both the structure and the merchandise, come from the Shanghai store,” a staff member told me. “It really is a reunion for us then!” exclaimed my friend, a Hong Kong resident and fellow fan of Barbie Shanghai.
Unique to this exhibit are the fantastical, fairy-tale inspired fashions by Chinese haute couture designer Guo Pei, who dressed Barbie in miniature versions of her 2007 life-size creations. So beautifully weird, and delightfully intricate.
Where: Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Times Square, Atrium 2/F
When: November 17 – January 1, 2012
But, all the dolls look like Europeans! Where are the Asian dolls???
I guess Ling, the Chinese Barbie created for the now defunct Shanghai store, is spending her vacation elsewhere, perhaps in Europe.