Belonging with Barbie

How the modern Barbie is redefining femininity and what it means to wear hot pink.

With the release of Valentino’s hot pink winter collection and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie on the horizon, it’s safe to say that Barbie-inspired fashion is back and better than ever. The bright color pallets speak to our collective willingness to make ourselves seen after the past couple of years of isolation, making Barbie the perfect muse for post-pandemic fashion. It’s loud, it’s bold, and it’s all about being comfortable in your own skin.

Pink is probably the first color people think of when they think of Barbie. Like the iconic doll, pink is commonly associated with girlhood and femininity. This also means that pink can be associated with innocence, obedience, hypersexuality, cluelessness, and other negative stereotypes about what women are or should be. In contrast, the recent resurgence in hot pink’s popularity uses feminine connotations as a powerful display of confidence. Women and men alike are using hot pink to draw attention to themselves, taking pride in their femininity and bringing a different meaning to the color pink. We’re learning to embrace femininity instead of shying away from or denying it altogether. Barbie’s underlying message has had a similar evolution—in a way, wearing hot pink in itself is an homage to Barbie. It’s nearly impossible not to associate the two.

However, we shouldn’t brush aside Barbie’s rocky history. Since the toy’s debut in 1959, Barbie dolls have been a target of controversy. The original doll was modeled after a risque men’s gag gift, which is not the best origin story for a children’s toy. On top of that, the original Barbie doll was so thin that in 1994 a group of researchers announced that Barbie would not have enough body fat to menstruate if she were a real woman. For decades, Barbie was a harmful role model for young girls, rep-

resenting unhealthy and hypersexualized standards for women. The doll was a paragon of negative stereotypes and expectations, but the modern Barbie is taking steps to change that reputation.

Over the past few years, Barbie has undergone quite a transformation. While Barbie used to be the face of unattainable, unrealistic, and Eurocentric beauty standards, the line of dolls has expanded to include a broader range of body types, skin tones, and physical features. We now have Barbies with disabilities, vitiligo, and curvy body types—the list goes on. While there is still a long way to go in dismantling the preconceived notions surrounding the doll, the new wave of diverse Barbies is certainly a step in the right direction. Barbie is no longer one definitive “ideal” woman but a collective of women that are at once beautiful and individual. The modern Barbie is nothing like the Barbie of 1959; along with that, we’ve reimagined and reclaimed what it means to be feminine and wear hot pink. It’s all about taking pride in your femininity and refusing to accept what others think you should or shouldn’t be. Now, being a “Barbie Girl’’ doesn’t mean living up to unrealistic, harmful beauty standards—it means being wholly and unapologetically yourself.

Photographer & Stlist: Morgan Burnett Models: Rachel Minick, Beau Henna