The original Barbie was inspired by Bild-Lilli, a seductive blonde bombshell of a German comics character-turned sexy novelty toy, and was one of the first dolls for children to look like a grown woman-complete with an anatomically impossible hourglass figure that enraged some parents when the doll debuted.
Although Handler claimed to have created her as a way to empower young girls, the doll has been a lightning rod of controversy, especially in feminist circles, where she’s been held up as perpetuating unrealistic body and beauty ideals or promoting singular and outdated gender norms. Read more: The Barbie Doll’s Not-for-Kids Originsīarbie has had her fair share of critiques, especially when it comes to gender and diversity. Now, the doll is synonymous with the color and Mattel even has a copyrighted Pantone shade called Barbie pink (219 C), a deep and bright shade of the rosy hue. While the original Barbie doll, meant as a high fashion toy, didn’t have pink marketing, in the 70s, Mattel made a push to market the doll to young girls, instead of adolescent girls, and used pink as the main color for the doll’s brand identity. The most telling example of this may be the doll’s ubiquitous association with the color pink. This marketing strategy led to not only the toy’s immense success, but ensured that the doll had a firm and lasting hold in pop culture, as generations of children grew up to be adult consumers. Mattel was one of the first companies to target children in their advertising, as opposed to parents, broadcasting commercials for Barbie dolls during The Mickey Mouse Club in the late ‘50s. Stone attributes both the current Barbiecore trend and its influence on fashion to one of the foundational elements of the toy’s success: marketing. “Even in her early years Barbie did not have to settle for being only Ken’s girlfriend or an inveterate shopper, She had the clothes, for example, to launch a career as a nurse, a stewardess, a nightclub singer.”
“Unlike play with a baby doll-in which a little girl is pretty much limited to assuming the role of Mommy-Barbie has always represented the fact that a woman has choices,” Handler wrote in her memoir, Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that one of the first careers Mattel marketed for Barbie was being a fashion model or that the unrealistic aspects of her appearance, like her perpetually arched feet or her impossible proportions, were made for showcasing fashion.įor Handler, it was important that Barbie represent what a woman could be and that was reflected in the doll’s clothes-an outfit could transport the player to not only a different look, but a career or a lifestyle. Additional outfits were unapologetically feminine, miniature versions of clothes that a grown woman would dream of-evening gowns, cocktail dresses, vacation wear, and sundresses. She was firmly rooted in a specific idea of femininity and her clothes reflected that: Barbie came dressed in a form-fitting black and white striped strapless swimsuit, accessorized with a pair of black stiletto mules and black cat eye sunglasses with blue lenses.
#Color me pink idiom full
The first Barbie doll sported a high ponytail, a full face of painted-on makeup, and heavy-lidded eyes. But the trend has long been a mainstay of both celebrity and high fashion for years, cycling in and out of vogue for the past two decades. According to Lyst’s 2022 “Year in Fashion” report, Barbiecore was the top trend of the past year, which peaked in June 2022, when pictures of Robbie as Barbie clad in an all-hot pink Western outfit were released: her look went viral on TikTok and sparked a 416% increase in searches for pink clothing. And 2023 finds us well into the resurgence of early-aughts fashion and its bright, sweet styles.
#Color me pink idiom movie
In July, Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie movie will hit theaters, with Margot Robbie starring as the iconic doll. The fashion trend, which has been spotted on celebrities like Lizzo and Florence Pugh, as well as on runways like Valentino, who unveiled a collection of just hot pink designs last spring, has been dubbed “Barbiecore,” in an homage to the stylish doll, whose brand identity is undeniably feminine and very, very pink.īarbiecore is soaring thanks to the convergence of multiple cultural moments. Look no further than the all-pink outfits filling red carpets, the countless social media posts with rosy themes, and the takeover of pink in street style.
0 kommentar(er)
