Barbie‘s costume designer revealed a key part of Margot Robbie’s journey throughout the film. Jacqueline Durran spoke to British Vogue about her work on the blockbuster film. In the interview she says that Barbie’s real core is self-discovery. That makes a lot of sense for a series of toys focusing on girls enacting playtime. But, with Margot’s Barbie, there’s a special sort of meaning because she felt like she had the perfect life until something shakes the foundation of that idyllic existence. Barbie fashion and all the set pieces are fun, but what makes a person after all? The tagline for this movie is “Barbie is everything,” but it seems like director Greta Gerwig is intent on unpacking that for everyone out there in the theater.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“One aspect of the film is self-discovery – all of the Barbies but particularly Margot’s Barbie have a journey to go on, and we were able to choose elements of Barbie fashion that were appropriate for those scenes that also gave a subtle nod to her internal journey,” Durran said.
What Is Director Greta Gerwig’s Take on Barbie
Elsewhere in that interview, the costume designer mentions that working on Barbie has changed her relationship to the concept of the character. Like, how important is Barbie really? Well, for Greta Gerwig, pretty influential. The director decided to hone in on one unmistakable fact: Before Barbie rose to prominence, there weren’t a lot of widely-known “toys for girls” outside of babydoll. That’s an interesting corner for the film to pull and prod at over its runtime.
“I never thought of Barbie as having a feminist aspect – because of the body shape, you tend to think that she’s anti-feminist,” Durran says. “Before I started working on the film, I hadn’t realised Greta’s point that Barbie was revolutionary because it was the first time that girls started playing with somebody who had agency and did things, rather than a baby.”
What Part Does Ken Play in Barbie?
All this talk about Barbie leaves our poor Kens in a weird space. Ryan Gosling is Robbie’s co-star in this movie and has taken up the banner for Barbie’s beleaguered boyfriend. He has reiterated that no one really cares about Ken. It’s a sentiment that has been played for laughs in a bunch of corners of the Internet for a while. Still, Durran and the staff had a bit of fun with the joke with their work too.
“No one cares about Ken, everybody just wants to play with Barbie,” Durran said. “He matches Barbie and changes too, but he has very, very many less [clothes] options.”
“Retro sportswear is one area where we did a lot of shopping for Ken,” Durran mused about the man who’s occupation is ‘Beach’. “He is sporty. That’s his main thing. We had buyers in America that went to dealers and imported it for us because we needed so much of it.”
Are you looking forward to Barbie? Let us know down in the comments!
