Every girl (that we know) had that childhood moment where they mutilated their Barbie dolls. Didn't they? Either you cut off all her hair, or you coloured in her skin in purple felt tip or – in my case – you chop off her legs and hide them in your mum’s bed (which must have been more than a little bit alarming for her).
I don’t really know what it’s about – maybe as children we were reacting to an unachievable model of femininity by, literally, tearing it apart. Or maybe researchers at the University of Bath are right and that we do it because we want to break away from our childish identity. Who knows? But there is a new way that you can wear your act of rebellion with pride, because dismembered Barbie jewellery is now happening.
Designer Margaux Lange uses salvaged doll parts in combination with sterling silver to make her, weirdly amazing, dismembered body parts jewellery. Her aim is to ‘examine and celebrate her own as well as pop culture’s relationship with the icon known simply as: Barbie.’ It’s strangely powerful stuff – there’s nothing like seeing a collection of Barbie bums wrapped around your wrist to make you consider whether modern society still treats women as a sum of their body parts, is there?
Still, in the grand tradition of Courtney Love and Riot Grrrl, who both reclaimed Barbie to make a statement, it’s definitely something we’d get on board with in The Debrief office. Barbie breasts necklace anyone?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.