One of the toughest Oscar races to call every year is Best Costume Design. Do you go with the 1920s extravagance of Babylon, or the rock ‘n’ roll jumpsuits of Elvis, or Afrofuturism of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever? All are worthy winners — Academy voters gave the award to Ruth E. Carter in a historic first — but next year will be a rare gimme on your Oscar ballot.
And the Oscar for Best Costume Design goes to… Barbie.
Vogue UK spoke to costume designer Jacqueline Durran, who won an Oscar for another Greta Gerwig film (Little Women), about how she dressed Barbie. Dozens of them. “The defining characteristic of what she wears is where she’s going and what she’s doing. It’s about being completely dressed for your job or task,” she said, adding, “I had buyers going out every day looking for clothes in specific colors in every shop in London.” Durran also revealed where one of Barbie‘s most viral (non-pink) looks came from.
With only 11 weeks to make everything, the team were still creating costumes as they filmed. That had one perk: the flexibility to keep adding new ideas. In one late fitting, actor Ryan Gosling came up with the idea for Ken-branded underwear for his character, a detail that went viral when the film’s marketing dropped. “We just rushed to make it,” she says.
“Ken’s Oscar-winning underwear, as worn by Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie” has a nice ring to it.
(Via Vogue UK)