Way Before Barbie & Margot Robbie – The History of the Pink

Barbie isn’t just a cherished part of my childhood but also plays an essential role in my life as a mother. As the editor of Notorious, I’ve already put the spotlight on the Barbiecore trend back in 2022, and we’ve even created a video diving into the history of the colour pink (I highly recommend you hit play on the video above). For the past year, we’ve been eagerly anticipating the Barbie movie featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, which has finally hit the big screens. So, is it time to bid Barbie and her signature pink adieu? Not so fast. According to WGSN, one of the titans of trend forecasting for fashion and consumer behaviour, Candy Pink (Pantone 16-2614, to be precise) will be a pivotal hue for the upcoming Autumn/Winter 23-24 season. There’s no evidence to suggest that Pink or Barbie are planning their exit anytime soon.

Pink is one of the most popular colours ever, and its history goes back four centuries. Watch the video to see when the name Pink was first used and check out some super pink looks to wear in Summer and Winter.

The Pink Fever’s Genesis: The Early Noughties

Icons like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj were among the first to embrace Barbie’s ultra-femininity in the early 2000s, echoed by films like Clueless and Legally Blonde. Barbiecore made a runway debut in 2014, thanks to Jeremy Scott’s designs for Moschino. In 2022, Pierpaolo Piccioli went all-in on hot pink for an entire show.

Barbie: The Doll We Love to Hate

The doll is often slammed for propagating an unrealistic beauty standard. She’s skinny, with disproportionately long legs, and a permanently tiptoed stature because her feet are exclusively designed for high heels. However, the philosophy behind Barbie was to fashion a doll that would inspire girls to dream of becoming whatever they aspired to be—models, nurses, astronauts, executives, and beyond. Remember, when Barbie was first launched in 1959, women had limited career opportunities. So, even if playing with Barbie involved dressing up this impossibly perfect female figure, subconsciously, we were engaging with the concept of an independent, self-reliant woman.

Decoding Pink’s Popularity

Emily Huggard, an assistant professor of fashion communication at the Parson School of Design, posits that the colour pink and the Barbie trend caught the zeitgeist as an antidote to the gloom of the post-pandemic era. It’s what we may refer to as ‘dopamine dressing’—wearing bright, bold designs that evoke feelings of joy and happiness. Pink serves as a beacon of light in the post-COVID darkness, amid war and economic uncertainties. Besides, Barbiecore and hot pink are democratic trends, a response to the Quiet Luxury, a style epitomizing expensive, elitist minimalism. In other words, it’s fashion for the people—no secret handshake needed.

So, have fun, it’s Barbie time!

Image photo Margot Robbie in @Prada