Dorfmann holds some of her rare Barbies as she sits among hundreds of dolls at her 'Barbie clinic' in Dusseldorf, Germany. The recent release of the 'Barbie' movie has given new impetus to her collection of dolls, which she exhibits in museums. Photo: AFP
With her whopping 18,000 Barbies, Bettina Dorfmann was already in the record books, but the release of the blockbuster about the blonde icon has thrown a spotlight on her historic collection.
"As a child I always played with Barbies," said Dorfmann, 62, at her shrine to the plastic doll in the western German city of Duesseldorf.
"When I got out my dolls for my daughter, she wasn't interested because they were too old-fashioned. That's when I started collecting them myself."
Dorfmann shows the Barbie doll Ken depicting American actor Ryan Gosling from the new collection of dolls based on the actors in the recent film. Photo: AFP
She's been living the pink dream for 28 years, lending her bevy of Barbies - recognised by Guinness World Records as the globe's biggest - to museums and shopping malls which put them on display for a few months.
"They usually draw between 5,000 and 20,000 visitors during the exhibitions but since the movie came out (last week), I heard the interest has really grown."
A photo shows the first Barbie doll with pink colours at the 'Barbie clinic' of collector Dorfmann in Dusseldorf. Photo: AFP
Demand for her catalogues, which list her lovingly preserved Barbies representing various eras, ethnicities and professions - as well as a few Ken dolls - has also soared over the past week, she said.
Dorfmann, who has already seen the US movie twice and thinks it's "great", also owns a Barbie "clinic".
"Repairing a doll can cost anything from 10 euros (RM49) to 500 euros (RM1,997) or 600 euros (RM2,996) if it's a rare model," she explained. - AFP
