Fashion

Trend Report:
Barbiecore

By The Rebag Team, Aug. 5, 2022

Barbiecore is one of Fall/Winter 2022’s biggest trends.

Barbiecore started with Valentino Garavani’s monochromatic Fall/Winter 2022 ready-to-wear show. Then came all those Barbie the Movie stills featuring Margot Robbie dressed in Barbie’s signature shade. It’s also the 25th anniversary of Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl”! Rebag breaks down the Barbiecore trend. 

How Barbie Pink Came to Be

Mattel’s Barbie® Pink Collection doll. (Mattel)

Ruth Handler, Mattel’s co-founder, designed Barbie to be a doll that served as a role model. When Mattel initially released Barbie in 1959 at the American Toy Fair in New York City, the doll didn’t have one bit of pink on her. That Barbie wore a black-and-white swimsuit, sunglasses, gold hoop earrings, and black pumps. 

That signature shade of pink didn’t become synonymous with Barbie until the ‘70s, and by the 1980s, Barbie came enclosed in a box in that rose hue. In 2008 Mattel finally trademarked that color, and Pantone 219C became the official shade of Barbie Pink. 

The Origins of Barbiecore

Valentino Garavani Ignites a Trend

Valentino Garavani Ready-to-Wear, Fall/Winter 2022. (Valentino)

Valentino Garavani Ready-to-Wear, Fall/Winter 2022. (Estrop/Getty Images)

Valentino Garavani’s Pierpaolo Piccioli ignited the Barbiecore trend on March 7, 2022 in Paris with a daring feat: A monochromatic collection in the same vibrant pink hue. Even the runway and set were that color. One by one, models marched out, in a total of 40 looks in that color. The collection would become known as the Valentino (Garavani) Pink PP Collection. This July at the Valentino (Garavani) Couture Fall 2022 show in Rome, numerous starlets, like Anne Hathaway and Florence Pugh, as well as content creators like Caro Daur, Susie Bubble, and Tommy Dorfman wore the Valentino Pink PP Collection to the show. In August 2022 Valentino (Garavani) announced that Zendaya and Lewis Hamilton would star in the Roman fashion house’s Fall 2022 campaign. 

Barbie the Movie Cements the #Barbiecore Trend

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie on the Barbie set. (NY Post)

Greta Gerwig started filming her highly anticipated Barbie movie this summer. The Barbie full-length feature film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. So many stills of Robbie in that signature shade of Barbie pink have been released that they only further cemented the Barbiecore trend.

The 25th Anniversary of “Barbie Girl”

To add to the Barbiecore trend, Aqua’s ‘90s dance hit “Barbie Girl” celebrates its 25th anniversary this year after originally debuting in 1997. 

How to Wear Barbiecore

Kim Kardashian goes Barbiecore. (Vogue)

The way you wear Barbiecore is really up to you and your mood. Go for a more subtle look with a shocking pink accessory that adds a pop of color to your look, or go all-out monochromatic like Valentino and dress yourself entirely in Barbie pink. It’s quite simple, the more pink, the more #Barbiecore!

Shop the Barbiecore Trend

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