A 30-year-old designer is among a band of collectors falling under the spell of

BARBIE is 40 this year, an icon of over-the-top fashion and little girl fantasies. She is hugely popular, with two Barbies sold every second around the world. Hong Kong accounts for more than 100,000 a year, according to Mattel. It is a safe bet most Hong Kong girls own at least one Barbie (the average in America is 10).

But the keenest Hong Kong celebrant is not a girl or even a woman playing out a childhood dream. It is a 30-year-old man who acquired his first Barbie less than three years ago.

Graphic designer Leslie Shum Kit-ping has 350 Barbies worth more than $100,000. He has everything from a $7,000 Pink Splendour Barbie, dressed in pink silk, lace stockings and 24-carat gold thread, to a Stacy doll in jeans that cost less than $200.

He is easily king of the collectors in Hong Kong and last year joined a new local Barbie collectors' club of close to 1,000 members.

What makes Barbie so special is hard to pin down. Her body is always the same and there have been only four different expressions on her face over the years. The turn of the nose, the jut of the chin vary only slightly.

But the clothes and hair are a different matter. The hair-play Barbies are the biggest sellers with girls, but it was the clothes that first attracted Mr Shum's attention. Three years ago he saw Twinkle Lights Barbie, whose bodice lights up and changes colour, and told his friend he liked it. The friend bought it for him for his birthday and the collection began.