Barbiecore Trend In Full Swing With Arrival Of Barbie Movie
Think pink! Barbie is everywhere and and her influence on fashion is undeniable.
Not since you were struck by the wild idea to make your Barbie and Ken kiss (surely the dawning of the end of childhood) had you probably dwelt much on the plastic doll with the impossible proportions. But later this month, the Barbie movie will saturate cinema screens. Every so often a film (or a studio’s marketing department) touches everything, not least of all fashion. Surely, you say, none of us is going to actually dress like Barbie.
If she’s not in a tight-fitting uniform she’s in gowns that belong to daytime TV. But have you found yourself reaching for that oft-neglected pink hue in the eyeshadow palette lately? Or matching your bag with your skirt and shoes for the first time since … well, since you dressed your Barbie? Barbie was a first foray into fashion for many children, adorning their plastic avatars with grown-up high heels and bras.
Barbie fashion designer Jacqueline Durran said recently Barbie is the essence of fashion because you play with her by dressing her – “clothes are her form of expression”.
To be fair, the colour pink was on the rise before Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling unleashed Barbie on to the world – Pink PP (aka Valentino pink), hot pink fuchsia created by Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, has dominated the red carpet over the past few years. But Barbie’s strong influence can be seen in blush pink suits worn by the Princess of Wales, and outfits from Queen Letizia of Spain, Eva Longoria, Heidi Klum, and Penelope Cruz.
Gen Z poster child Hailey Bieber has been snapped wearing towering plastic mules, and Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney in sugary sherbet skirt suits. Come summer, pastel hues, fluoro, rollerblades and fluffy slippers are bound for the shops. Barbie, of course, is a pick-and-mix of eras. Director Gerwig – whose oeuvre suggests something multi-layered at play here – was intrigued to find many Barbies in the Mattel line are called Barbie, regardless of their differences: “All of them are Barbie, and Barbie is everyone. Philosophically … that’s interesting,” she tells American Vogue. It’s right there, too, on the movie poster: “She’s everything.”
Now that’s clever marketing.
HOW TO.... SPARKLY SHOES
Click your heels: glitter shoes aren’t just for preschoolers and cabaret stars. Ideal for days when spirits are low, they work well to give tailoring a little pep or with a more casual denim look. From cult Alaia crystal embellished Mary Janes (sold out practically everywhere) to glitter mesh versions from Australian designer Christopher Esber, it’s time to don your twickle toe.
Q&A with BIANCA SPENDER
What does winter style look like to you?
I love winter. I love coats and jackets. The sculpture you can create in winter with wools, layers and textures – there is so much richness and volume. We have this joke that if I only had to design two pieces, it would be a gown and a coat – they are always the first pieces I start with in a new collection.
How are you spending your winter?
I am not going to Europe, I am not running for summer. I am absolutely adoring swimming in the ocean at Bronte (NSW). I have never done it before. I am swimming in my winter full-length wetsuit and it’s magical.
What is the design era you are drawn to?
I have always found the 1940s the most inspiring – it was this incredible time for women because they started working during wartime. It was the moment the modernity of fashion came into a woman’s wardrobe; the cut, the masculine and feminine, the overalls with silk shirts, silk scarves.
What is the power of dressing for women?
Fashion is an incredibly layered world and as a sculptural form, it is incredibly complex. But it is the thing that you take with you in your day. It is something that affects your whole environment and it is a mode you want to express yourself with. It has a voice.
- by Milanda Rout
Ready for my close-up
Under the gaze of a state-of-the-art, $1.2 million research microscope at the Australian National University, this ladybird looks like a star.
Why I joined a secret society of guerilla gardeners
Our underground movement is fighting back against the march of the black roofs on the hems of our cities and our denuded, sun-slapped carparks and pitifully neglected nature strips. And there’s an art to avoiding being caught.