Barbie

Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros
After months of anticipation, the first trailer for Greta Grewig’s Barbie film hit the internet on Friday, and it’s a technicolored visual treat.
A little over one-minute long, the teaser clip opens with a playful homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In it, Margot Robbie, who stars as the historic doll, stands as tall as a skyscraper on a sandy landscape amidst young girls playing with baby dolls. A bit of fashion history: Robbie wears the same shoulderless black-and-white striped swimsuit as the very first Barbie doll, released in 1959.
There are feverish glimpses at some of the other colorful costumes on display. Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken, wears a fringe leather vest paired with fingerless leather gloves. Perhaps it is an ode to the chaps-wearing Harley Davidson Ken. Either way, the shirtless look shows off the character’s iconic washboard abs. A beat later, Issa Rae, star and creator of Insecure, appears as a thoroughly modern version of “President Barbie” with her hot-pink jumpsuit and sash. And Marvel star Simu Lu becomes a dancing Ken, donning a Bob Fosse-leaning all-black get-up with pink socks.
The campy costume design of Barbie, led by Jacqueline Durran, has already created plenty of conversation.When on-set photos of Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie donning colorful, 80s-flavored roller skating outfits leaked earlier this year, fans couldn’t get enough. Other conversation-sparking looks include Ken’s Canadian tuxedo and Barbie’s sparkly Western wear. Barbiecore, anyone?
If the swelling pre-release buzz is anything to go by, Barbie is sure to be a fashion gem when it hits theaters on July 21 next year. Start stockpiling your hot pink now.
Watch the full teaser trailer for Barbie below:
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Originally published in Vogue.com

From London’s key workers to the stars of the Royal Opera House’s ballet company, Michael Halpern’s muses are always eclectic. The London-based New Yorker’s latest leading light? Barbie. “I always played with them growing up, but I was more interested in their incredible hair than their clothes,” laughs the designer of the collaborative component to his spring/summer 2023 collection, which brought some ostentatious, optimistic oomph not only to a sombre city, but to Mattel’s Dreamhouse.

The opening look honored the Queen

A couple of years ago, Halpern was lucky enough to speak with Queen Elizabeth II, as part of an audience with London’s most exciting design talent. Halpern divulged his love of ostentation to Her Majesty – an aesthetic evocatively conveyed in the opening commemorative look of his spring/summer 2023 show. The first exit, presented in total silence, featured a breathtaking, floor-trailing cape in cornflower silk taffeta, paired with a mint headscarf. “It was our way of respectfully paying tribute,” Halpern explained.
Home comforts just got glamorous

Halpern is soon to gain his British citizenship and permanent residency in the UK, and he found the process of opening the final box of his belongings shipped to London particularly poignant. Inside, he discovered old photographs of his mother sporting outré house gowns, more suited to chic soirées than slouching on the sofa. A hooded gown in sumptuous leopard print velvet was inspired particularly by a kaftan Halpern’s mother owned, which to his horror, she did not hold on to. “Hosting at home is the most glam thing,” he said. “Growing up I felt completely safe to be creative in my house. There was no restriction.”
Halpern is embracing escapism

The designer has never been one for restriction. “When I see ruffles and texture, it brings me complete joy,” Halpern said with a smile. In idiosyncratic fashion, his spring/summer 2023 collection embraced escapist volumes and unabashed ostentation, from bustiers in pastel “jellyfish” flounces to gowns exploding with cloud-like sleeves, disco flares in hand-painted flocked tulle and minidresses in kaleidoscopic chevron sequins. A series of looks, imagined in blue velvet and embroidered with a sparkling nighttime sky, recalled the neon stars Halpern stuck to his bedroom walls as a child. “They’re about building these worlds, checking out and going to another planet,” he explained. “Fashion being harnessed to create fantasy.”
Accessories went XL

The collection featured super-sized accessories, like huge hoop earrings and “tacky gold” headbands dangling with Hellenic metal leaves. Like other embellishments in the collection – including huge bows swathed in crystals – they were dramatically scaled up. “Doll proportion is a thing!” Halpern laughed.

Barbie took to the catwalk

The Barbie Dreamhouse celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and its doll residents were keen to celebrate. Barbie has partnered with a host of fashion labels, including Comme des Garçons, Versace and Moschino, and as part of Halpern’s collaboration, a section of his show was inspired by the doll’s decade-spanning archival looks. Think ’80s power gowns and Barbie’s first swimsuit, which debuted in black and white stripes in 1959. Halpern first worked with Mattel in 2019, when he dressed a Barbie Role Model doll made in the likeness of Adwoa Aboah in a sequined minidress and turban. A cascading asymmetric gown in glittering orange polka dots will also be scaled down for the Dreamhouse’s most extravagant occupants.
Originally published in Vogue.co.uk
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Brigitte Bardot in a promotion for Naughty Girl, 1956. Photo: Getty
God might have created woman—if the title of Roger Vadim’s 1956 film is to be believed—but Mattel created Barbie. Would the fantastical plastic doll have been possible without the popularity of real-life sex kitten Brigitte Bardot? There might not be a definitive answer to that question, but it’s certain that both the woman and the plaything represented unattainable beauty ideals.
An original Barbie launched in March 1959. Photo: Getty
Over the years Barbie has expanded her repertoire and her wardrobe. The filming of Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming movie has made Barbiecore—which mostly translates into skimpy looks in bright pink—the trend of this summer. It’s not the first time, and won’t be the last, that this überfeminine aesthetic has peaked.

Below, take a look at some throwback Barbie moments.
Karen Mulder in Valentino Couture, fall 1992. Photo: Getty
Chanel, spring 1994 ready-to-wear. Photo: Condé Nast Archive
Brandy Quinones in Thierry Mugler, spring 1994 ready-to-wear. Photo: Getty
Claudia Schiffer in Chanel, spring 1995 ready-to-wear. Photo: Getty
Claudia Schiffer in Atelier Versace, fall 1996 couture. Photo: Getty
Carla Bruni in Balmain, spring 1996 couture. Photo: Getty
Karen Mulder, Cindy Crawford, and Eva Herzigova in Hervé Léger, spring 1996. Photo: Getty
Paris Hilton, 2001 Photo: Instagram.com
Miley Cyrus in Moschino, 2014. Photo: Instagram.com
Moschino, spring 2015 ready-to-wear
Moschino, spring 2015 ready-to-wear
Moschino, spring 2015 ready-to-wear
Rihanna in Giambattista Valli, 2015. Photo: Instagram.com
Moschino, fall 2019 ready-to-wear. Photo: GoRunway
Kacey Musgraves as Barbie in Moschino at the 2019 Met gala. Photo: Getty
Originally published in Vogue.com
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Photo: Instagram.com/haileybieber
Corsetry is a Versace signature, and for autumn/winter 2022, Donatella Versace made it central to the collection. Now, muse Hailey Bieber has become one of the first to road-test Donatella’s new-season corsetry, fresh from the catwalk.
The model and mogul orchestrated an Instagram photoshoot wearing Look 12 from the collection: a satin corset mini dress with intricate boning skimming the chest, torso and side seams, embellished with bejeweled Medusa motifs on the straps.
Hailey accessorized her look with layered Tiffany & Co. jewelry. Photo: Instagram.com/haileybieber
Hailey’s chosen shade? Pink, of course, perfectly in line with the rise of Barbiecore. Stylist Karla Welch posted a picture of the model in her bubblegum look with the caption: “Paging the Barbie movie.”
Nicola Peltz Beckham is another famous fan of Versace corsets. The actor, who incorporated a number of Versace looks into her wardrobe for her wedding celebrations, told Vogue at the time: “There’s just nothing that feels better than a Versace corset… The fit is impeccable. It makes you feel sexy, but classy at the same time. Versace is just the perfect thing to put on after a big bridal gown.”
Versace autumn/winter 2022. Photo: Instagram.com/haileybieber
While Nicola kept her bridal accessories to a minimum, Hailey dialed up the glamour in layered Tiffany & Co. diamond and chain necklaces, and a pair retro white boots from Naked Wolfe. Extra? That’s exactly what she was going for. As she put it on Instagram: “Having a little extra fun today.”
Originally published in Vogue.co.uk
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Ken avatar wears dungarees and jumper by Balmain x Barbie®. Trainers by Balmain. Barbie avatar wears blazer and shorts by Balmain x Barbie®. Shoes by Manolo Blahnik Barbie®Avatars created by Forget Me Not for the Balmain x Barbie® collaboration. Sculpts provided by Barbie®
It makes sense that Barbie would wear Balmain. A style icon since the Eisenhower administration, she’s known to take some fashion risks befitting the French house. But the two are now betting that humans will want to dress in Barbie-inspired Balmain dresses, sweats, and bags. Creative Director Olivier Rousteing has created a genderless collection for adults, inspired by Barbie and Ken, that speaks not only to their tastes, but also to Rousteing’s childhood memories and hopes for the futures. “It’s not only the dream of a designer, it’s a dream of a kid, you know?” he says, adding that as a kid he was told not to play with the dolls. “That I can create a collection with Barbie today shows how the world has changed, and how good it feels to be free with yourself without being judged.”
Barbie x Balmain. Photo: Rob Rusling
Rousteing says he approached this project with two minds: one of a “kid dreaming of Barbie,” and one of a top designer. He took Balmain’s house codes—the Labyrinth monogram designed by Pierre Balmain in the ’70s, the shoulder pads, the oversized gold buttons, even some couture pieces—and incorporated them with Barbie’s visual world to create 50 items of clothing and accessories. In addition to the clothes, the collection is modeled by CGI dolls and three NFTs depicting Barbie and friends in Balmain will be auctioned.
Barbie avatars both wear Balmain x Barbie® collection and accessories. Avatars created by Forget Me Not for the Balmain x Barbie® collaboration. Sculpts provided by Barbie®
As for the pink, of which there is plenty, he created several shades and melded the more dusty pink he’s known for with Barbie’s signature bubblegum shade. One of his prized pieces is a replica of a dress he made for his Fabergé-inspired collection in fall 2012. “I reproduced it exactly in pink, with all the straps and padding and Swarovskis,” he says. On the opposite end of the spectrum of formality is his other favorite item: a sweatshirt with the Balmain logo in Barbie font. These pieces and the rest of the limited edition capsule collection will be available on January 13 worldwide. The collection itself ranges from US $295 to $42,494, prices that speak to the Balmain side of the collaboration.
Photo: Marie Rouge/ Courtesy of Balmain
This isn’t Rousteing’s first time working with Mattel, either. Barbie and Ken sat in the front row of a digital 2021 runway show, and the designer has made doll-sized clothes for her and the Claudia Schiffer Barbie before. Still, Rousteing calls this “a fun collection with a deep, deep message.” The main reason is that the collection is mostly genderless. After all, in a Barbie world, you can create your own rules. “You can be Ken and borrow the clothes of Barbie and Barbie can borrow the clothes of Ken,” Rousteing says, adding, “At the end of the day, you can create a society that is about freedom and not about stereotypes.”
Photo: Marie Rouge/Courtesy of Balmain
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Originally published on Vogue.com