Barbie fever is sweeping the nation right now, with the release of the film finally upon us today. Though some naysayers cite the blonde doll as a bad feminist, we can't help but disagree.
With her myriad careers, independent lifestyle and strong family values – there's a lot we can learn from the iconic childhood staple. Just ask wedding planning website Hitched's editor, Zoe Burke, who credits Barbie with helping her secure her dream job.
Here Zoe explains why playing with Barbie is one of her happiest memories, and how her favourite doll got her to where she is today…
"For me, Barbie was a way to engineer my dream life. That dream life involved a happy marriage with a tall, dark, handsome man (sorry Ryan Gosling, but blonde Ken doesn't do it for me), a cool job (my Barbie always worked for a magazine), children, a stylish home and a pink Beetle covered in flowers.
"I could live out this fantasy for hours, and frequently did. My sister and I would take over our entire bedroom floor mapping out Barbie's world and lose ourselves in these narratives all day long. Sometimes Barbie would go on 'safari' (in the pink Beetle, obvs, but sometimes in the Barbie Vet Jeep) in our garden, or she'd participate in fashion shows on long car journeys, strutting up and down the armrest in the middle of the backseat of the car.
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"She could do anything she wanted - the only limit was our imaginations, and to me it was a given that she just did it all. The job, the home, the family, the marriage, all in heels and a cute outfit.
"It set the blueprint for what I expected adult life to be like, and allowed me to dream of something which sounds quite simple, but actually as an adult, you realise it's not all that easy to attain."
How did Barbie help me get my dream job?
"One of my core memories from childhood is playing the Barbie fashion designer game, which allowed you to design wedding dresses and magazine covers focused around Barbie.
"I would spend hours designing wedding dresses on the computer for Barbie, and printing out reams and reams of my creations, but the thing I really spent my time on was colouring in the cover and adding my own cover lines, before carefully writing out my editor's letter in my best handwriting on the other side.
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I would then force my parents, grandparents, anyone who happened to be around, to read my magazine – quite similar to what I do now, really. The thrill of creating my own narrative and addressing my readers - even if it was just my nan - stayed with me.
As a kid growing up in suburban Birmingham, becoming a journalist or editor seemed like a complete dream. I would make my magazines, with the help of Barbie, and play with my dolls, giving them cool careers, such as a journalist, but didn't really imagine it was attainable for me.
It was only as I got older, I realised that actually it could be within reach - and I laughed to myself when I got my first job working for a wedding publication, thinking back to my homegrown wedding magazines.
I have worked on two different wedding magazines now, and numerous wedding websites. The thrill of deciding magazine cover lines, reviewing images to lead with and crafting messages to share with my audience is just as real as when I was doing it with Barbie.
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Sometimes I really long to be seven years old again and just lost in this total Barbie dreamscape with my little sister, as that made up years of my childhood and is the basis of some of my happiest memories. I'm so excited to be able to engage with Barbie again as an adult - and yes, I'm going to see it with my sister!
For me, Barbie paved the way for me being able to live out my dream job, and now I have a little girl myself, one of the things I am MOST excited about is getting to play Barbie with her and see her go on the same journey of discovery.
Click here for more of Zoe’s insights and visit HELLO!'s Happiness Hub for inspiring ideas to feel happy.