CHAOS AT THE BARBIE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

I had been looking forward to the Barbie runway presentation since I first heard about it back in November. Unfortunately, as I made my way out of the Andy & Debb show, which took place right before the Barbie show, I saw chaos already building.

It was only 2pm, but dozens of people had already lined-up for the 3pm Barbie show -- literally before the sign to check-in was even up. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in the tents. I stood in line for nearly two hours, amidst hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting to be let in.

Speaking to those around me, I found out that most were not buyers, they were not stylists, they were not editors, they were not writers - they were for the most part, completely and utterly random (at best fanatical Barbie collectors).

Did I mention that amidst the crowd every third person was a child? Literally, I felt like this was a line to buy tickets to a Miley Cyrus concert, not the check-in for a fashion show.

Further, I’m not sure who made the final call on the invitations, but my invitation said that it was for “you + 1 Barbie Girl” – it’s very rare that you are allowed to bring just any random person to a show at the tents, but at least that somewhat explains the out of character crowd that was chaotically gathered for the show.

Sadly, the fact that each person invited was allowed to – apparently – bring whomever they pleased, meant that there were about 1000-plus too many people inside the tents.

When the clock hit a quarter to four, we were told that the show was over-capacity and that they weren’t going to be letting in any people from the standing line, nor were they checking-in any of those that were still in the winding line.

If you’re thinking that had you been there and had a seat assigned to you, you would be able to argue your way in – no such luck. Those with assigned seats were told that they had been given away.

Feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic, I made my way out only to find two children crying to their mother after not having gotten into the show.