Can Barbiecore find a place in the boardroom?

The colour everyone’s crushing on has taken over runways, red carpets and social media of late. Can it make its way to the corporate world?

When Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, burst onto our television screens in 2001’s Legally Blonde in all her bright pink, unapologetically feminine glory, she established herself as a feminist heroine. Her law school pursuits were bolstered by, and not despite, her traditionally feminine traits. Elle served as a precursor to 2022’s reclamation of the Barbie aesthetic. Driven by the instantly classic images of actor Margot Robbie filming the movie Barbie, the world’s most famous doll’s signature colour and style has taken over runways, red carpets and social media across the globe.

Beyond Robbie’s on-screen reinvention, Valentino proved to be a big driving force with their Autumn-Winter 2022 runway dripping in their signature ‘Pink PP’, a collection that found supporters in celebrities like Zendaya, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Lizzo and Sebastian Stan. Other brands soon hopped on the bandwagon, with Versace’s Barbie-inspired corset dresses, Blumarine’s Y2K pink frills and Balenciaga’s neon pink trainers. Klarna, the global payment and shopping service, identified ‘hyper-femininity’ as a key shopping trend last year, with an increase in the sale of pink products (a 126 per cent jump, as of August 2022).P

In pop culture

This mix of pop culture and high fashion, aided by social media hashtags, has propelled Barbiecore into more than just a fashion trend. Labelled as a reclamation of the colour pink, a new-age feminist uniform, supporters of the trend claim that Barbiecore can translate seamlessly into real-life wardrobes, in all contexts. “Pink is more than just a mere colour trend,” says stylist Ojas Kolvankar. “Over the years, its connotation of being frivolous has been subverted. Take the Gulabi Gang, for instance. The all-women collective based out of Uttar Pradesh that works on women's issues such as domestic violence, dowry and child marriage, has made the colour an identifier for its members, thus making the colour symbolic of both feminism and activism.”

While wearing a hot pink co-ord set to a concert or a bright pink lehenga to a wedding might be easy, can you really get away with Barbiecore at work? While  ‘Boardroom Barbie’ has an alliterative appeal to it, can the aesthetic really spell empowerment for the working woman?

Wearing Barbiecore IRL

While Mattel’s Barbie boasts numerous careers on her resume, the real-life implications of Barbiecore in boardrooms aren’t nearly as simple. Anisha*, a consultant at an accounting firm in India, enjoys dressing up in frilly pink outfits in her personal life. However, she’s found it difficult to translate that to her professional life. “Before I actually worked in the corporate world, the only experience I had was watching TV shows where they wear pretty power dresses and weren’t afraid of channeling their personal style to make a statement. I was never allowed [to do] that.”

Anisha believes she’s often unfortunately put in a box when she tries to bring out her personal style. “I have noticed, especially in a team like mine, people believe a person can either be smart or pretty. When someone is a little too feminine, they’re likely to be categorised as some sort of bimbo.”

While Barbiecore may not find acceptance in more rigid structures like finance, other environments can be more accepting. Namrat Klair, who manages marketing and communications at Dior, wears a lot of bright colours to work. Her bright pink Telfar bag accompanies most outfits and no one bats an eyelid. “The kind of products they [her coworkers] are surrounded by have a lot of colour so everyone is anyway exposed to that level of colour and fashion. I feel like there’s no judgement; it's very normalised,” she says. 

The normalisation extends to public relations, as evidenced by Komal Lath’s hot-pink power suit at a work event. Lath, the founder of Tute Consult, believes in the power of colours when it comes to a personal sense of empowerment, “As long as the outfit fits well [both the body and occasion], the colour is beautiful. However, your clothes can’t be the central point of discussion in a work meeting. It is important to dress without screaming ‘I need attention’.”

This is echoed by Tanya*, a talent manager at a global pharmaceutical company, “The pandemic has changed the definition of what’s formal in a corporate environment. Dress codes have evolved and mellowed down but they can't become a distractor. You can't do what you would do in a party or a bar, but within that, you should have the flexibility to dress the way you feel appropriate.” Tanya believes that while employers expect certain codes, responsible companies are always actively looking to eradicate biases by investing in their hiring managers. “I know of a company that had a very conservative dress code and when they started revisiting their value proposition strategy, the feedback they received was that the employees wanted the freedom to be themselves,” she says. “They then launched a new value proposition to accommodate that. Progressive companies listen to the voice of the employee and change their stance with evolving context and needs of their employees..”

The dichotomy of it all

Women’s work wardrobes have long mimicked the styles of their male counterparts in an effort to fit in and level the playing field. “Traditional corporate wardrobes usually consist of colonially-descended Western-wear staples such as shirts, blouses, skirts, trousers, suits, jackets and coats in neutral colours or classic patterns. These pieces have had conventionally masculine silhouettes of broad, padded shoulders,” says Kolvankar. “But these ideals are gradually shifting for generations such as millennials and Gen Z, who value individualism and expression. They’re merging different aesthetics with different ideas of how they relate to them. I don’t think that wearing a trend should have anything to do with how one’s perceived at work, apart from the work they do. But in the corporate sector’s largely patriarchal build-up? You have to navigate your style with safety.” 

In a society where women still struggle to get beyond the nuanced sexism at work, reclaiming a colour long associated with shallow and frivolous connotations can be difficult. “Barbiecore is definitely never going to happen in finance because men will not take you seriously; it is a very male-dominated industry,” says Anisha. “Most women in finance wear muted colours because it’s easier to excel when you blend in.”

Personal shopper and wardrobe consultant Tanvi Ailsinghani agrees with the need to offset the perceived frivolity of hyper-femininity at work. “I recommend that my clients tone down the ultra-feminine overtones by adding sharp cuts and stiff fabrics. Combining pinks with other neutral shades is also a good idea. Low or scooped necklines or outfits with high slits don’t work in serious settings.”

The flip side to blending in is possibly losing the ability to find comfort in your attire. “The key to empowerment is confidence, and fashion is a fantastic medium for expressing it. Pink, as a colour, can act as a confidence boost,” says Lath. For Klair, pink acts as a mood enhancer “I feel like since the pandemic has abated, I have taken on a more dopamine dressing approach. I have been going to the office every day. Just taking those extra 10 minutes in the morning to pick out a colourful outfit makes me feel happy and comfortable.”

A perfect amalgamation of dopamine dressing, Y2K nostalgia and upended gender norms, it is clear that Barbiecore is here to stay. “At the centre of Barbiecore as a trend is the idea that women can use fashion as a liberating part of their self-expression in ways that make them happy,” says Kolvankar. “As conventionally as we remember the blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll, it is important to reinterpret the ideals she represents, but not to ape her once-popular style.” So while a dipped-in-pink ‘Boardroom Barbie’ may only be able to truly exist in plastic-wrapped boxes in the toy aisles, pops of her saturated pinks and fuchsias may find a subtly subversive space in the modern-day working woman’s wardrobe.

(Some names have been changed for anonymity)

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