What Barbie's resurgence means for *this* generation

Searches for the shade are skyrocketing... August 11, 2022 NATIONAL [The Hottest Paint Color Nobody Saw Coming: How ‘Storms in Paris’ Is Taking Over Homes Everywhere]( MATTEL/GETTY IMAGES [Barbie Is Suddenly Everywhere—What Does That Say About Millennials?]( Nobody puts Barbie in a corner. OK, maybe you do when you go through your angsty teen years, desperate to prove you don’t play with dolls anymore. But, if 2022 has taught us anything, it’s that Barbie never really leaves us. And right now, she’s experiencing a comeback unlike any other. First, there was the fuchsia-on-fuchsia Fall 2022 Valentino haute couture show, where the bold shade of pink reminded everyone of a certain Barbara Millicent Roberts—and put [#Barbiecore](, an equally bold fashion movement, into the mainstream. (An aesthetic [Nicki Minaj]( has been rocking for years, BTW.) That was only compounded by the slow dopamine drip of photos from the [Barbie]( set, a live action production starring [Margot Robbie]( and [Ryan Gosling](, directed by Greta Gerwig—with a plotline that’s become almost cheekily under wraps. (Little is confirmed, beyond that it’s about a doll who’s forced to leave a place called Barbieland due to her imperfections.) Right on the heels of all that hype, Mattel has officially brought back its best-selling doll of all time—[Totally Hair Barbie](, which raked in $100 million in its first year on store shelves. While this iteration doesn’t come with a squeeze tube of Dep hair gel for puffing out her bangs like the [1992 original,]( it does feature four variations on the toy, with different body types, hair colors and skin tones to be more inclusive. The reboot is timed to Totally Hair Barbie’s 30th anniversary, but it feels almost divinely orchestrated: The most iconic Barbie of millennials’ lives hits stores right as many of them have children of their own of Barbie-playing age, and while the #Barbiecore aesthetic is at its definitive, late-summer peak. All of which begs a two-fold question: Why now, and what does it reveal about us? MATTEL/VICTORIA BELLAFIORE How Barbiecore Took Off When unpacking Barbie’s resurgence among millennials and Gen Xers, a few themes immediately emerged. First, the obvious: ‘90s fashion is back, big time, and who rocked more neon than Babs herself? (Because it’s specifically the magenta-and-yellow Spandex-rocking Barbie of that era that’s become our cultural muse du jour, not the heavy-lidded siren of the early ‘60s.) Second, there’s the nostalgia play—after two years when reality felt, well, all too real, we’re harkening back to a simpler time in our millennial history. Specifically, the playground era, when our biggest problems involved rummaging the sofa for [Rollerblade Teresa’s]( flickering right skate. Which dovetails into the third: escapism. Barbie’s world is a fantasy land, and entry into it is as easy as swiping on a [Malibu Barbie eyeshadow palette]( or rocking a pair of [platform jelly heels.]( Like the dress-up days of your childhood, you can instantly be a different version of yourself—one that’s still relatable and familiar, just with a glamorous twist to shake up a gray world. That’s where the trend gets really interesting. The most extreme, bubblegum version of Barbie’s look is what’s taking off, and it’s something we ‘90s babies adored at the time, but now have to grapple with when it comes to our own kids. Do we give our daughters Barbies? And if so, how do we explain this grotesque version of femininity? “I lived for her hair—I wanted to live vicariously through that hair,” one Rhode Island mom remembered of Totally Hair Barbie. But still, “I wouldn’t buy it for [my daughter],” she said, citing concerns about the emphasis on outward appearances. (To be fair, a [2006 University of Sussex study]( found girls who played with Barbies tended to want to be thinner than those who didn’t.) There’s also the worry that a doll who can do anything and has everything (the Dream House! The convertible! The ultra-thick hair to her toes!) only adds to the pressure women face to be all things to all people. “I actually found it more stressful when they started rolling out Barbies for every career and hobby,” says Jillian Quint, PureWow’s Editior-in-Chief. “I was like, oh great, now she has to be beautiful and a neurosurgeon and doing step aerobics in her off-hours?!” On the flip side, there are the millennials and Gen Zers who maintain that a little Barbie never hurt nobody and are fully leaning into the aesthetic themselves, some going so far into #Barbiecore as to [reclaim the word “bimbo”]( as a positive thing... 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