Plastic life is fantastic: the Chilean with a Barbie collection of more than 320 dolls

As Christmas approaches for his 13th birthday, Iván Segovia (36) has only made one wish . It had been clear to him for a long time and he thought he had nothing to lose.

“I would like a Barbie doll. With just one, I would be the happiest child in the universe,” he told his mother. Although the answer was negative, he did not give up to achieve his dream. It wouldn’t be the first time they objected to any possibility of me having these Mattel dolls just because I was a kid, as there have been others where the same thing has happened.

Since then, 23 years have passed. A lot has changed except her enthusiasm for Barbie.

Iván, better known as Giovanni Segovia on social media, has made it a lifelong passion. He works in the administrative area of ​​a blind company, but his best known facet is being the biggest collector of Barbie in Chile.

In a room of his house, he lodges a personal collection of more than 320 dolls from all decades and all possible styles, so that the space has become a real Barbie museum. Organized on shelves or showcases, all are cared for like a treasure.

“Barbie was therapy and joy. It was like restoring my soul,” he says The third .

One of Giovanni’s earliest memories of Barbie dates back to when he was 3 years old: he walked into a room belonging to his paternal aunt, Lisette, and saw the walls of the room crumbling with shelves of Barbie models from the 80s. His grandfather, who was a textile engineer, often had to travel to Europe for work and from there he took them to Chile.

“For me, it was like a paradise. It was something fantastic” remember clearly. Since he was very delicate with everything he drank, he was allowed to play with two of them.

The permission lasted until age 5, when her environment began to see it as something unusual for a child to like a doll. This is perhaps where the hardest part of the journey of having this hobby came.

For several years, Giovanni’s father refused to like these toys, because they were “girly”. He considered this somewhat shameful. “The one who supported me in this aspect was my mother, but in secret, because in front of the family she had to hide that she was supporting me in secret”, she recalls.

“It was very sad and painful. When my sister received dolls, I was the most excited, but at the same time I knew that I couldn’t have contact with them. said.

This is how he decided to gradually recover the pieces that were given to him for a snack at school. He bought the first ones, but again he had to do it in secret.

Despite her best efforts, her family still objected to her having Barbies. Each time they were caught, they were taken away. It happened at least with the first ten that were purchased.

Giovanni went to work after his studies and with what he earned he persisted in his dream again. For the first time, he was able to keep a Barbie at the age of 14: “Her name is Lara and she is from the Mundo Joven line. It was the first that I managed to buy without being taken from me, with it I started the collection that I have now” .

Remembering that time, Giovanni says what made him persistent was that the more obstacles they put up to having Barbies, the more his love and desire to buy them grew. “Instead of preventing it and extinguishing the doll spirit, they only succeeded in increasing it. It was a losing battle. I was going to continue with this.”

It never crossed the mind of the Mattel doll collector that she would have more than 300. She had no idea what collecting meant. For the same reason, he chose to acquire the Barbies from the 80s that his aunt Lisette owned, because they were the ones that transported him to his childhood memories.

“I bought them because of the nostalgia and affection they conveyed to me,” he explains.

By browsing the internet, he discovers that there is a whole universe of collectors. The interest grows as she learns more about the history of the dolls and the editions that have marked each decade, each with its particularity.

“Fortunately, I was always ordered with money, so I bought little by little. I never bought a lot, no,” he warns.

In the years that Giovanni has purchased, he has not only acquired part of his collection via international platforms. Occasionally he also walks around fairs and identifies Barbies in poor condition, but that could be added to the group. With the care that has characterized him since childhood, he buys them anyway, restores them and gives them a second chance. And he leaves them like they just came out of the factory, hair clean and outfits which matches.

When the Barbies reached 150, the collector began to feel that they were invading his bedroom and part of his living room. Until 2020 she managed to move and had the space the dolls needed.

“I transformed the room into a mini museum, so that the collection is concentrated there and does not invade the rest of the house” account.

Inside the room he put several cabinets. One of them, the one located in the center, is specially dedicated to dolls that are ordered according to the year of release: “There are Barbies from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and today. I have them with signs so people visiting can see how they have evolved over the 64 years they have lived” .

The shelves that adorn the walls of Giovanni’s mini-museum also steal the gaze of those who come to visit. Unlike the central showcase, on these shelves the dolls are in their respective boxes.

These are almost any edition anyone could imagine, with themes of professions, princesses, fashionistas, mermaids, athletes, and beach shoes. . He even has a Ken characterized as him: he was made for him after being a judge in a doll contest. Looking at the gigantic collection, it is also possible to appreciate the changes in the manufacture and style of the dolls over the years.

As the space houses models already completed for several decades, it had to take several shelters so that they do not deteriorate. For example, he tries not to let too much natural light into the room and performs monthly cleanings to avoid excess dust.

Moreover, considering that Chile is an earthquake country and that the collection was in danger during the earthquake of 2010, Giovanni chose to put fishing lines to hold the Barbies located on the shelves.

Of the 320 he owns, Giovanni knows very well which are his favourites. The first is the barbie superstar , marketed in 1976: “My godmother had it and I played with it when I was a child. Having it now is very precious because of the nostalgia it brings to me.”

Another of the most valuable he owns are two editions of the Barbie ponytail the first officially released Mattel doll in 1959. “They are in perfect condition, it is a treasure because it is very difficult to have one from this period so well preserved” said.

She also has her own doll made in Chile. At the end of the 1970s, Mattel granted the license to several Latin American countries so that they could create Barbies, because at that time they were not yet exported. In the case of Chile, the license was received by Plásticos Gloria. Among the few who could be saved after the company’s bankruptcy, Giovanni managed to buy a year later: the barbie malibu .

The collecting journey has a very special meaning for Giovanni, as it has become therapy and refuge. “He saved me from my congenital depression because of the happiness he gives me every day of my life” described in their social networks.

“Barbie is part of my life and it’s one of the great joys I have. It’s my happiness, it’s my shelter. said.

The only thing he regrets about Mattel’s works is that over the years their quality has deteriorated and their price has increased despite this. Many of them are no longer marketed with their characteristic tailored garments, but come with the body painted garments.

Despite the above, Giovanni will continue to cultivate his passion and has some ideas on what to do with his collection in the future. Her biggest long-term dream is to build the Barbie Museum, but she says it’s not easy. He also believes he could donate the collection to someone who can and keep the dolls very neat, as he has done for over two decades.

Last week, the long-awaited film Barbie by Greta Gerwig has arrived in Chilean cinemas. Her arrival caused a fever in audiences of all ages and within days she was crowned best premiere of 2023. Giovanni has already visited her twice, first at the Prerelease and then at the General Preview with friends who are also collectors of the doll.

Although he comments that “he loved it”, when he learned of the existence of the project in 2018, he was not in favor of it being carried out. “I had no faith. He said it was going to be scary,” he recalls. His perception changed when he found out Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig would be participating, and later when the feature film trailers were unveiled.

For the biggest Barbie collector in Chile, the importance of the doll lies in the fact that it has been able to adapt over the decades and because it has long ceased to be considered a simple toy, but has become a pop culture icon and a brand. He also considers that it marked a before and after in history after it was put on the market in 1959.

“At that time, all the toys or dolls that existed for girls represented a baby, a little guagüita. And that a doll representing an adult woman came out, astronaut, teacher, doctor or veterinarian, encouraged girls who had been playing since childhood to represent themselves in Barbie and imagine themselves in the future. This is what Barbie has marked worldwide in society” he concludes.