Margot Robbie's Yellow Barbie Dress Is More Than Just A Fashion Statement
This article contains spoilers for "Barbie."
As the movie says out loud, when a person thinks of a Barbie, the image of someone who looks like Margot Robbie in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" is likely what first pops into mind. Despite her decades of different looks and fashion choices, blonde hair, a big smile, and some sort of pink outfit have served as the unofficial Barbie uniform for over half of a century. And yet, at the end of the film, Barbie wears a soft, simple, yellow dress.
Costume designer Jacqueline Durran gave Variety the inside scoop. "The Barbies have gone through all of that stuff and they're now the most fulfilled versions of themselves," Durran said. "And that sets the scene for what's happening to Margot's Barbie as she's becoming human." Durran explained that all of the costumes in Barbieland weren't made to accentuate the softness of the human body. The bold shapes and firm garment lines give an artificial, toylike appearance to all of the Barbies, a reminder that they are children's playthings. However, the dress Stereotypical Barbie wears at the end looks like something anyone could buy at a local store. "The costume is a bias cut dress which drapes — it's not Barbie quality," Durran said.
The color was also intentional, a way to contrast the hyper-pink world of Barbieland. As it turns out, a yellow dress is the most popular Barbie outfit sold by Mattel over the last decade, and Durran wanted to honor the color's emerging popularity. She made the dress herself, as she did a majority of the costumes in the film, which allowed her to make the dress its own character. "We wanted a soft yellow and wanted it to have less pop, so we printed that yellow onto white silk, and because of the cut, it clings to the body," she said.
Bring the mellow with yellow
The yellow dress was such an important inclusion, it also became the color of the dress worn by Billie Eilish in the music video for "What Was I Made For?" the final song of "Barbie" and the piece that serves as the basis for much of the film's score. (It's also my personal, current frontrunner for Best Original Song at the Oscars.) But the color change wasn't the only fashion evolution Stereotypical Barbie experienced. Before joining us in the Real World and donning Birkenstocks, Robbie's Barbie transitions from a high heel to a wedge. "We moved from the classic Barbie heeled court shoe into something softer, but at the same time we had to keep the heel," said Durran. Additionally, she also pivots away from the oversized statement jewelry she typically wears, and instead wears a more subtle, grounded heart from Missoma Jewellery. "There's something about that locket and scale that makes it more human."
Costuming plays such a vital role in "Barbie," and I can't imagine any other film coming out this year holding a candle to the work Durran did when it comes time to award Best Costume Design at the Oscars. On a personal note, I absolutely geeked out when I saw Margot Robbie wearing laser-cut anchor earrings when she shows the other Barbies that her feet are flat, as they were made by one of my favorite jewelry makers, Sugar & Vice Designs. Durran wasn't the other costume legend on the set of "Barbie," however, as Oscar-winning costume designer Ann Roth has a cameo as the woman on the bench. Durran told Variety that she did not costume her, trusting Roth to pick out an outfit of her own that would perfectly fit the scene. It obviously turned out perfectly, and the scene is one of the film's very best.