How Barbie turned the fashion world pink: Margot Robbie rocked gingham Prada and Chanel on the red carpet with Ryan Gosling, while runways everywhere pick up on the #Barbiecore trend

May 25 , 2023

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star in Barbie, a film that has propelled pink’s popularity on social media, and on runways all round the world. Photos: Warner Bros. Pictures/TNS

At CinemaCon in April, Robbie wore pink gingham and Christian Louboutin shoes while Gosling wore a T-shirt bearing the name of the film’s director, Greta Gerwig

Barbie and Valentino’s hot pink are driving views on TikTok and sales on Lyst – and inspired the Chanel cruise 2024 show at Paramount Studios and runways from Monse, Sandy Liang and Lela Rose

Come on Barbie, let’s go party!

If you thought the 2022 #Barbiecore trend was going anywhere, you’re sorely mistaken. If the buzz around the forthcoming Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie film – starring Margot Robbie as the ultimate doll and Ryan Gosling as “just Ken” – is anything to go by, we all want to live the plastic fantastic life.

Margot Robbie promotes the upcoming film Barbie at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas during CinemaCon on April 25. Photo: Getty Images

You could also judge this by the 303 million or so views on the #Barbiecore hashtag on TikTok, or the way the internet lost its collective mind when the Barbie trailer dropped and the star of the piece was seen slipping off her pink, fluffy mules to reveal a foot that stayed in the same high heel shape – just like the doll. (“Genius”, exhaled Twitter.)

Dior J’Adior pump in pink satin. Photo: Dior

In any case, the Barbie effect on fashion – beyond the mania for everything hot pink, compounded by Valentino’s exclusive Pink PP – is real. According to shopping platform Lyst, searches for fluffy mules were up 115 per cent the week the trailer dropped, searches for pink pieces were up by 78 per cent in a similar period, and shoppers were also looking for everything gingham. (Barbie wears the cutest chequered sets in the trailer.)

A Barbiecore-pink cardigan by Balenciaga at Net-a-Porter. Photo: Handout

And lest you doubt that this wholesome, picnic-perfect print is really making a comeback, it was spied on recent runways from labels such as Monse, Sandy Liang and Lela Rose. Meanwhile, the Chanel cruise 2024 show held at Paramount Studios in LA was just Barbie heaven. All those 90s-esque sweet little tweed short sets in sorbet shades! Just add a pair of Rollerblades and you’re set.

Pink was prominent at the Chanel cruise 2023-2024 fashion show on May 9, at LA’s Paramount Studios. Photo: Invision/AP

The plastic couple themselves capped all this when they walked their first red carpet together at CinemaCon in April: Robbie in a pink gingham Prada set, Christian Louboutin shoes and a Chanel anklet; and Gosling in a hot-pink jacket and a custom T-shirt with Greta Gerwig’s name written in a pink font.

The intensity of feeling about Barbie is a reminder that she isn’t just any old style icon – she represents the ultimate unpicking of stereotypes around femininity and girlishness and power. (Who’s had more careers than Barbie?!) As the posters say, “Barbie is everything.” And that definitely looks to be true in fashion, too.

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