Arushi Sakhuja
It's a pink world and the Barbiecore trend has enveloped fans across the globe. Greta Gerwig's humour-filled film with a refreshing take on patriarchy left the audience in awe. Creating history, Barbie has the largest opening for a woman-directed film with a global opening of $377 million. Stereotypically known for her tasteful fashion sense, isn't surprising that one could spot many iconic Chanel pieces in the film. From an archival tweed suit to a pink heart-shaped bag, and a colourful necklace. If you have watched the film, you might have noticed that Margot Robbie's character was dripping in Chanel from shoes to accessories and couture.
Hitting the big screen on July, 21, the cinemas were painted pink. The Selfridges London cinema even had Barbie-inspired cocktails and popcorn (amongst other things) while watching the Barbie film. After a hearty laugh, visual delight and an insight into a fantasy, the audience couldn't help but notice some standout Chanel pieces.
The House of CHANEL collaborated with Barbie, to create some special pieces. The star of the movie, Margot Robbie is also a House ambassador as the global icon for luxury brand Chanel, hence the collaboration was a sheer delight. Working closely with the creative minds behind Barbie, Chanel proudly contributed several exquisite costumes for Margot Robbie’s character and even designed a stylish ski suit for Ken’s character, portrayed by the charming Ryan Gosling.
Throughout the film, five silhouettes – including three suits, a ski suit, and a dress– from Chanel were chosen to highlight the Barbie character along with other accessories such as exquisite, quilted bags, including a heart-shaped one, and captivating accessories such as shield-eyewear. In an interview, Margot Robbie shared, "Everyone, has some sort of associated memory with Barbie, whether it's good or bad. Everyone knows Barbie. The Barbie legacy is tied with fashion brands throughout history with some special editions and some Barbie dolls coming in a box with high fashion couture and accessories. Wearing high fashion couture definitely feels right for the character, so it helped me get into the character." Oscar-winning costume designer and friend of the House, Jacqueline Durran, was given a selection of outfits from the Ready-to-Wear, COCO BEACH and COCO NEIGE collections.
As one is well aware, every Barbie comes in a box with a hat, bag, shoes and a bracelet and Chanel's collections ticked all the boxes. The five silhouettes which appeared in the film included an archival Claudia Schiffer (a supermodel of the 90s) tweed suit, Schiffer is one who Robbie calls the real-life Barbie; a love-heart shaped pink handbag, a statement-making Chanel necklace with multicoloured stones. One of the standout moments was Barbie’s pink purse which Margot also discussed, “I remember even on set, there was this one look where I have a pink love heart shaped Chanel bag. And I remember like all the girls on set were like, can I hold it?”
“There were some incredible outfits that I actually got to wear that Claudia Schiffer herself, who’s kind of like a real-life Barbie, wore,” the actress says in the video. “In fact, one of the archival suits that I wore had a little label that said 'Claudia' on it. And I was like, 'Wow!'” The video posted by the brand also includes archival footage of the Chanel 1995 Spring Summer show with Schiffer walking the runway and sporting a Chanel tweed skirt suit that Robbie wore in the Barbie production. Additionally, Robbie is spotted in two hot pink attire by the brand; a tweed hot pink mini dress and a hot pink co-ord set featuring a fitted waistcoat and bell bottoms with sequins on the flared bottom.
Chanel's collaboration with Barbie is a celebration of the pink hue and fine craftsmanship. A treasure trove of accessories and couture, the couture and accessory pieces spotted in the film are sure to be ultimate conversation starters that provoke intrigue after watching the movie. The film cleverly employs humour and fantasy as powerful tools to address contemporary feminist issues in a lighthearted and intelligent way. Margot said: “I thought it would be exciting to do something like this with Greta Gerwig who I think not only has the ability to honour a 60 plus year legacy of a brand but also have a current cultural conversation. At the same time, people are going to find this movie very, very funny and surprisingly emotional and definitely, definitely fun to look at." Chanel was also a key brand for Margot’s unparalleled Barbie press tour wardrobe.