ORLANDO, Fla. — From the time we are little, we are told we can be anything — much like the doll, Barbie.

But her sparkling world of shoes and iconic pink was the real-life inspiration for designer Lindsay Matteoni and her holiday tree featured in this year’s Festival of Trees.

It’s an annual fundraiser for the Orlando Museum of Art, presented by the Council of 101.

“I just want them to enjoy all the little details that we put into it,” said Matteoni. 

Since the 1960s, the Council of 101 — made up of women — has raised $14 million in funds for the museum and art education, from summer camps to programming for adults with Alzheimer’s. 

Matteoni first dreamt of the tree after this year’s big “Barbie” movie premiere. She got to work with a team of designers, including Kalyn Cabrera and Mary Lotti, over Labor Day weekend. 

And this week, her Barbie-inspired holiday tree was the first to sell among scores of others at the art museum.

Matteoni, of MSTR Studio, said the tree was a labor of love, which took a village of women. Philanthropists, like Cydney Daly, the daughter of a famed basketball coach, threw their support toward the project, as did women-owned store owners, who donated glitzy shoes and colorful necklaces that were placed on the tree.  

Lindsay Matteoni and other designers snap a photo on the adjunctive Barbie box backdrop. (Spectrum News)

For weeks, Matteoni went door-to-door in Winter Park, combing Park Avenue and beyond. She stopped at stores like The Grove and asked for help, unsure what she would receive in terms of donations. 

“I put a wishlist out there, in the hopes of maybe making this whole design come true. And when I walked in the doors, it was like, ‘Done,’” she said. “And what’s great is the friendship and camaraderie is there, and it always has been there.”

She said the endeavor was a lesson in finding a community to give back to the community. 

“It’s more of the fact that women have gotten together to make this thing happen. It’s so special,” Matteoni said. “This is about Barbie, it’s about women empowerment, it’s about celebrating each other.”

Matteoni said that she is also supportive of the Council of 101’s mission, funding art education. 

“I wouldn’t be where I am without art education," she said. "I became an interior designer because my third-grade teacher told me I had the mind of an artist. To be able to say in some way we are giving back, it’s the icing on the cake.”

The Festival of Trees runs at the Orlando Museum of Art, along North Mills Avenue in Orlando, through Sunday.