It’s because of Barbie! For the whole month of March 2019, the KL Tower is going to be pink!

As a little girl, I loved Barbie. As a grown adult, I am thankful to Barbie. Growing up, she has allowed me to let my imaginations fly, and in some way, inspired me and made me who I am today. And now she’s 60. 60 years old! And a whole iconic tower has been lit up in her signature pink — just for her.

Barbie’s 60th Birthday

I was recently invited to attend Barbie’s 60th Anniversary celebration in Malaysia. She’s inspired women of all ages for 6 decades. With dolls in 200 careers. With over 1 billion little girls having one of their own. It was a really pinkish affair, with attendees all decked out in pink (I went in blue but with pink flowers), and the floors and tables and lights and everything in Barbie’s signature color. It was definitely a party of a little girl’s dream — and that’s why Mattel had a whole lot of little girls at the event as well. About 30 young girls (and 6 adult models) came strutting down the runway dressed in Barbie apparel, and carrying 60 Barbie dolls style by the Limkokwing Fashion Club and A Cut Above Academy. The 6 models held dolls to represent the 6 decades of Barbie-style.

Barbie’s 60th Anniversary celebration was not only to celebrate her birthday. It was also held to launch its 60th Anniversary Signature Doll, Career Dolls and the Travel Range, as well as to re-introduce the multi-year campaign that “You can Be Anything” and inspiring girls with #MoreRoleModels. Most importantly, it was to light up the iconic KL Tower… in bright pink!

Barbie tent all decked out in pink.

Little girls on the catwalk for Barbie’s 60th.

Beautifully styled dresses for Barbie.

Models, and baby models, all decked out in Barbie attire, and holding their Barbie Dolls.

And here it is, the KL Tower — in all its pink glory.

The Pink KL Tower

I think one of the most exciting parts of the night was witnessing the KL Tower turn a bright pink. In Southeast Asia, Barbie has illuminated several iconic landmarks to mark the start of Barbie’s 60th Anniversary celebration — including the Philippines’ Manila City Hall, Indonesia’s Museum Fatahillah, Singapore’s Singapore Flyer and Thailand’s Emquartier. And in collaboration with Tourism Malaysia, our iconic KL Tower will be pink from the 11th to 31st March 2019, 7pm to 12 midnight daily.

#BarbieCutiCutiMalaysia Contest

And in the mean time, in conjuction with the reveal that Barbie’s New Travel Range toys will be made available mid this year — Tourism Malaysia has a social media contest to promote Malaysia’s travel destinations with Barbie. All you need to do is just enter the  #BarbieCutiCutiMalaysia Facebook Contest by bringing Barbie with you when you’re traveling around Malaysia. The contest is open to Malaysians and runs from 11 March 2019, 5.00pm – 31 March 2018, 11.59pm (Malaysian time). There will be a total of 10 winners — with 5 Grand Prize winners walking away with Barbie Travel toys worth RM500! Click here to find out more about the contest.

The invited #MoreRoleModels for the night — [L-R] Dato’s Tiffanee Marie Lim, Amber Chia, Datin Winnie Loo, Professor Dr. Mazlan Othman and Karen Leong. Missing here is Datin Vivy Yusof.

The VIPs of the night cutting the cake made by Karen Leong. Pic by Brian Lee.

The little girls are all excited to meet these inspiring ladies. Pic by Brian Lee.

And here is one of me with Professor Dr. Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist.

#MoreRoleModels For Us

Malaysia’s celebration for Barbie’s 60th Anniversary was also graced by our very own born and bred Malaysian inspiring ladies — entrepreneur Datin Vivy Yusof, co-founder of FashionValet and the dUCk Group; Professor Dr Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, Dato’ Tiffanee Marie Lim, VP Brand Creativity and Talent Mgmt for Limkokwing University and Creative Director of Limkokwing Fashion Club; Datin Winnie Loo, founder and Chief Creative Director of A Cut Above Group of Salons and Academy; Amber Chia, supermodel and Principal of Amber Chia Academy; and Karen Leong, founder of Karen Leong Cake Design.

It is in conjunction with Barbie’s multi-year campaign that “You Can Be Anything” to inspire the limitless potential in every girl, the event has brought on board #MoreRoleModels in the fields of entrepreneurship, science, culinary arts, fashion and beauty to join in Barbie’s 60th Anniversary. And our Malaysian role models not only joined in the celebrations — they also played a part in bringing models from their academy, styling their hair, designing Barbie’s clothing, and of course, baking a cake for Barbie’s birthday!

This is the new range of Barbie’s 60th Anniversary Career Dolls.

The 60th Anniversary Doll, Career Dolls and travel range toys unveiled at the event.

Barbie told me that I can be a traveller — and that I will be.

Barbie and me.

Barbie’s New Range

Barbie’s 60th Anniversary celebration also launched Barbie’s new range of dolls — the Barbie 60th Anniversary Doll, 6 new Career Dolls and the Barbie Travel Range. The 60th Anniversary Doll is really a sight to behold — this collectible doll wears a gorgeous cascading ball gown twinkling with silvery sparkles. She also wears a dramatic ponytail with an elegant twist, hoop earrings and a wrist tag; and has a side-eye glance. The 6 Career Dolls are an addition to her already more than 200 careers. There is a new astronaut doll in a space suit, a pilot doll complete with a pilot’s uniform, a football player doll carrying a football, a news anchor doll holding a microphone, a firefighter doll in a yellow uniform, and the elegant political candidate doll. I love how the career dolls tell girls everywhere that they can be anything they want to be.

My favourite of all the newly launched dolls (but of course!) are the new Travel Range toys. It’s a whole set of Barbie’s family going on a holiday — so there is a Barbie doll, a Ken doll, a Skipper doll, a Daisy doll and a Chelsea doll. And there’s also a Travel Helicopter and Chelsea’s Tiki Hut Playset to make that make-believe travel world seem all the more real!

Can’t wait to get my hands on some of Barbie’s Travel Range toys — and here’s wishing Barbie a very Happy 60th Birthday. Thank you for all the memories.

The iconic KL Tower, all decked out in pink!