BENGALURU: If there is anything that is spoken about more than the twin release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer, it’s probably Barbie’s pink theme taking over the world of social media. The doll and now a movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, have changed the way the world looks at the colour pink.
How can the fashion world stay behind? Hopping onto the pink bandwagon, fashionistas in the city are going for all-pink outfits.
Is there anything called too much pink? Chaitanya Kenchamanna Hoskote, founder of a spa, who wore an all-pink outfit for a recent event, says absolutely not. “I didn’t get to play with Barbie dolls, but I always wanted my daughter to. The pink effect is going to stay with me beyond Barbie,” says Hoskote.
Socialite Ila Dorairaj Naidu took it a notch higher when she wore an all-pink outfit when she went for the first day of Barbie. “I am Team Barbie all the way. She introduced glamour to me when I was 5 years old and got my first Barbie. When Valentino did their all-pink collection last year, I was so excited because I was already doing the pink tights and pink outfit by then,” explains Naidu. However, her all-time favourite pink look is a neon pink sequin shift dress with orange-pink feathers from a UK high street brand. She paired it with blingy, multi-studded Louboutin heels that resemble those that Barbie dolls wear.
Many collections are also interweaving the Barbie theme, like the online clothing store, Qua, whose latest collection has various shades of pink. Rupanshi Agarwal, the co-founder, says pink as a shade has always outperformed itself. “Earlier versions of pink were surely softer and calmer. But now, the pinks that we are seeing are bolder and brighter. Unsurprisingly, the colour has been doing very well,” says Agarwal.
Pink is an important colour in Indian wardrobes too. And many, like the international style and fashion consultant Kay Reynolds, have not shied away from having a Desi Barbie moment. “I am a pink person, although it’s only recently that I’ve started going for deeper, darker pink hues. Pink is such an uplifting colour on Indian skin tones; it’s a colour that is pretty on both fair and deeper skin tones; it really helps to bring a glow to the skin,” says Reynolds, who wore a contemporary version of a traditional Indian look.
Pink Evolution
Barbie was not always pink. The original Barbie of 1959 wore a high ponytail, had heavy-lidded eyes, and sported a striped black-and-white swimsuit. In the ’70s, Mattel, the American company that owns Barbie, used pink as the colour for the doll’s brand identity to market it to young girls instead of adolescents.