Three days ahead of the 2024 Oscars, Margot Robbie stepped out—in a pink stiletto rhinestoned pump—for a victory lap of her Barbie press tour. Hollywood’s luxury retailer Just One Eye hosted the book launch of Barbie: The World Tour by Miss Robbie and her legendary stylist Andrew Mukamal. While I would normally associate book events with waiting in a sprawling line at Barnes & Noble for a signature from some YA author, this event was far closer to a museum-tier art exhibition.
On display was every dress Robbie wore on Barbie’s worldwide press tour, featuring bespoke gowns by Vivienne Westwood, Versace, Schiaparelli, Valentino (and many more) that were based on real archival Barbie outfits from the ’50s through the ’90s. In addition to seeing the artistry and detail put into these garments up close, there was an accompanying display of the Mattel dolls that served as inspiration. I could personally spend hours looking at vintage archival Barbie clothes, but seeing them reimagined in life-size (shoutout to Tyra Banks as Eve) was a visual feast. Mukamal, in collaboration with his real-life Barbie, Margot, turned something as commercial and banal as a press tour into a deftly executed, high-concept art project, and it certainly merits its immortalization in print. Seeing what Law Roach is doing with Zendaya on the Dune: Part Two press tour, it seems that “method dressing” and drawing from archival fashion may be a trend that is here to stay.
Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig
In what Mukamal describes as “a labor of love, dedicated to all the Barbie lovers and fashion fans around the world,” Barbie: The World Touris available for purchase on March 8th, 2024—Happy International Women’s Day to us all! Photographed by noted fashion photographer Craig McDean, with text by Robbie and Mukamal—in addition to handwritten contributions from designers from Manolo Blahnik to Jeremy Scott—this book is the candy-sweet cherry on top of any fashion lover’s personal library.
In celebration of the book launch, we’ve curated a list of apparel and accessories so you, too, can immerse yourself in the extended cinematic universe of Barbie Land.
