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It’s the first week of the new year, but the contest to win is in 2022 fashion The collaborative game, that ever-evolving race to find a way to pair the most startling, startling brands, has begun.
First out of the gate: Balmain, French haute couture house, and Barbie doll, the ultimate plastic doll. It could signal an official breach of the next big fashion frontier: the world of toys. Although the marriage of the Mattel logo and the document icon is not exactly what you might expect.
No dolls involved: A 50-piece instead Barbie inspired collection for adults. It is emulated by racially diverse avatars and will include three unique-looking immutable tokens that will be auctioned off online, each featuring a full-size physical design. dolls, thus expanding Barbie’s reach into the digital collectible space.
And most obviously, both the collection and the NFT look are unisex: the Barbie outfits erase the Ken-Barbie divide.
After all, even in the era of the first female vice president, when Barbie and all the old female stereotypes she can represent seemingly unrelated, the collection is amazingly fascinating. It is designed with a hint of irony filtered through the pink glasses and grin of a boy who once felt he was not allowed to play with dolls and is now free to recreate the doll. most popular in the world.
In an undated image provided by Rob Rusling, it looks from the Barbie x Balmain collection. (Source: New York Times)
“Having Barbie in my Balmain army, doing a collection inspired by her where there are no boys or girls clothes, is my little revenge,” says Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain. “I think Barbie represents a playful dream world. There is nothing wrong with a dream. But let’s make the dream come true, not the 1950s or 1960s but 2022. For me, it’s not just a commercial project. It was emotional.”
He’s speaking, he says, from personal experience – “as a kid, I played with Barbies and felt rejected because of it” – which is why he cares about her relationship me with Mattel beyond the dress-the-doll stage.
Rousteing previously posed for Claudia Schiffer Barbie and, in 2021, invited computer-generated Barbie and Ken to the Balmain digital fashion show. And he’s just one of a long list of designers who have made the doll’s clothes, including Jean-Paul Gaultier, Michael Kors, Donatella Versace, Diane von Furstenberg and Karl Lagerfeld.
In 2009, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, there was a special “Barbie fashion show” at New York Fashion Week, and in 2019, Barbie received the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award, an award previously given to Michelle Obama and Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood.
But this collection has her influence, and inclusive concept, to a broader extent.
According to Richard Dickson, president and chief executive officer of Mattel, the company believes toys have the potential to become a trusted fashion accessory, much like handbags and fragrances.
“When you combine the seriousness of high fashion with the fun of toys, it works great,” says Dickson. As it happens, Mattel has some experience in the field, having created a limited edition Hot Wheels Cadillac with Gucci in October. According to Dickson, 5,000 of the toy cars — which cost $120 each — sold out within minutes.
In an undated image provided by Mattel, Mattel Creations x Gucci Cadillac, size Hot Wheels. (Source: New York Times)
The price of the Barbie x Balmain collection is higher than that. They range from $295 for a t-shirt to $42,494 for an autographed cape, which is a lot more than the regular Barbie price but lower than the classic Balmain, which a t-shirt with a mechanical logo copies retail for $495. (No one knows how much the NFT will cost in the current gold rush of digital collectibles; the auction runs from Tuesday through January 14), Dickson said, as well. like those who can aspire Chanel The bag can start with a bottle of Chanel No. 5, those who dream of a Balmain dress can start with a Barbie x Balmain accessory.
“People are looking for optimism and fun, especially when life is very heavy,” he said. “Toys are by definition what they are.” The same definition can be applied to fashion as one point of convergence.
And it’s true that it’s hard to look at the Barbie x Balmain collection without chuckling, even though the palette is as sweet as sugar, from fuchsia to bubble gum (in other words, not very far) , with some white, blue and yellow included as accents.
There were giant, squarish puffer bags with Balmain Paris scrawled on them with the word Barbie winding under the 1970s Balmain logo and shoppers in clear plastic resembling Barbie doll boxes; baby pink silk-satin suit with kimono jacket and short striped pajamas; mini skirt with sequins and mermaid strapless skirt. Also, overalls and sweat jackets and off-the-shoulder jackets with gold buttons.
The sheer, goofy kitsch that meets pop culture and couture mixes work surprisingly well.
It adds appeal to Rousteing’s signature ’80s power shoulders and turkey pleated skirts, which sometimes seem overcooked, and elevate when teamed up. Like the Balenciaga episode “Simpsons,” it makes social and cultural commentary part of the value proposition.
And in doing so, it lends credence to Dickson’s prediction that the fashion-toy-industrial complex “will become a whole new business.”
(This article originally appeared in The New York Times.)
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