Why This Is the Summer of Barbie in More Ways Than One
In the photoshoot seen round the world, we can confirm that Margot Robbie’s Chanel contract is finally working for her instead of against her. Styled by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson for Vogue, Robbie stuns in an oversized, shoulder-padded YSL suit and a Chanel tweed dress fit for a president. While the photoshoot’s set design, styling and editing are immaculate, the profile of Robbie by Abby Arguirre where she dives deep into how the production came to be revealed a few truths that I will be basing my entire personality on for the rest of the summer.
I never grew up playing with Barbie dolls, mostly because they were too expensive. Growing up in Durban, South Africa with two sisters and a single dad, I either had to make a case for why this doll was important to have as opposed to one of my sister’s hand-me-downs. Anyways, I was a Bratz girl through and through. I always found Barbie quite flat, SO white, and generally just meh. But as someone who is chronically online (I started a Substack for Christ’s sake) I, too, got caught up in the excitement around the live-action film premiering this July. So let’s get into the reasons why I changed my mind.
Barbie has prime real estate.
I recently moved to New York from Chicago and as much as I love all that the city has to offer, it really falls short on the housing front — especially if you don’t have heaps of money stowed away. Even if you did, with how bad the economy is, the possibility of our generation (gen Z hi) owning homes in the near future seems quite unlikely. I know it’s a nuanced issue but somehow this all feels like Eric Adams’ fault.
When the first ever Barbie doll was released in the late 1950s, a lot of women couldn’t rent apartments on their own, let alone own their own homes. So while, almost 70 years later, this woman (me) will probably never own a home, the best I can do is zhuzh up the one I’m renting and sharing with roommates. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what goes into making an apartment a comfortable place to live. I’m a simpleton, so as long as I’m surrounded by my favourite books, prints from some of my favourite artists and a small forest of house plants, I’ll be happy.
Barbie dresses for the occasion, not the day.
If you know me, you know that I love fashion. I live for it. That’s my day job — I’m a journalist and I write about fashion and beauty from a more analytical lens. I am perpetually overdressed. Imagine my excitement when I learnt that I’ve met my match in Barbie. Like the fashion industry, Barbie can simultaneously be quite superficial and incredibly profound. With a change of clothes, she has changed her entire personality, and oftentimes her profession. The girl commits to a look!
Regardless of how impractical it might be, this summer I will be dressing for the occassion, even if it calls for multiple outfit changes. Block party at noon? Dinner with friends at 7? Dancing at 11? Done and done.
Barbie doesn’t centre men.
Gerta Gerwig, the director of the forthcoming film, when describing Ken energy told Arguirre that “In the beginning of the movie, nobody thinks about Ken. Nobody worries about Ken. Ken doesn’t have a house. Or a car. Or a job. Or any power. And, um, that is gonna be sort of unsustainable.”
In Barbie’s world, Ken is an accessory. He’s just some guy. The first Ken doll debuted in 1961 as a counterpart to Barbie to further cement the Barbie name in the public domain. Unlike the original myth of creation, in a Barbie world, women came first! This is amplified in the movie’s trailer when Barbie and Ken pose for mugshots and Ken’s card reads “And Ken.” Barbie has clearly always been that girl — the true embodiment of hot girl summer, and now I vow to be as well.
