Happy Birthday to Barbie. To celebrate her birthday, the leggy blonde made an around-the-world tour, and her enthusiastic receptions have proved she’s still one of the most respected icons in the world. Read the full story in Time magazine:

Barbie turned 50 this year, and she’s been celebrating her birthday with a whirlwind world tour, christening a new store in Shanghai and strutting the runways of New York’s Fashion Week. As curvaceous and sprightly as ever, the petite doll even paid a visit to the nation’s capital for a recent weeklong convention, and the reception there proved that much of the world still has a love affair with the leggy blonde.

The 29th annual Barbie Convention sold out in two days, and lit up the District in the doll’s signature hot pink, drawing Barbie-lovers aged 13 to 80 from all over the globe, including Russia, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Britain and France. A trio of sisters trekked from Mexico in order to be around other passionate Barbie fans. “There is no Barbie club in Mexico,” said the oldest, Leonor Vidal Rosada…

Here’s wishing her the happiest of birthdays – she sure makes the half-century mark look good!