Barbiemania is coming to Paris. If you’re a fan of the popular doll, you are going to love Paris this year. Two exhibition and other special events are going on, including fashionista hype chez Colette. Ken must be extremely jealous…

Thousand of little girls (and young ladies, and women) around the world are mad fans, and this year is special: Barbie is 50! Wahey! Time for a visit to the Paris Doll Museum where nearly 500 Barbies will be on display in official Mattel settings. You’ll see how the most famous plastic lady in the world had evolved, as well as her fabulous wardrobe…

You’ll also learn that Barbie only learned to bend her knees in 1964 and that she was only officially distributed in France from 1972 onwards. Fascinating.

Other events are planned around the exhibition:

– a workshop “Make a dream dress for Barbie”
– storytelling sessions for all the family – “Barbie, my heroine”
– a specialised auction “50 years of Barbie”
– a conference, “Barbie in France” and a book signing session, both by Eric Chatillon, Barbie collector and author of the book “Barbie en France”
– and you can organise your daughter’s birthday party at the museum! During the Barbie exhibition you’ll get an extra special present from Mattel France !

All the details of the exhibition (in French) are here.

The exhibition “Rêve ta vie avec Barbie” (Dream your life with Barbie) runs from 28th March – 20th September at the Doll Museum (Musée de la Poupée), Impasse Berthaud (next to 22 rue Beaubourg), 75003 Paris. Métro Rambuteau (line 11). Open Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm. Closed Mondays and public holidays. Admission: adults 7€, concessions 5€, kids from 3 – 11 years old 3€

Another exhibition is being held at Galeries Lafayette. The whole 1st floor (2nd floor for you Americans) will be dedicated to Barbie from 6th – 25th April 2009, with Barbie dressed up in dresses specially created by fashion designers such as Christian Lacroix, Gérard Darel, Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld and Jean-Charles de Castelbac.

And chez Colette they have gone Barbie mad, with a collection of exclusive Barbie items such as clothes designed by Jeremy Scott and (extremely pricey) jewellery by Margaux Lange, made with chopped up bits of Barbie dolls. Colette is at 213 rue Saint Honoré, and their special online Barbie store is ihere.