LONDON — It’s Barbie’s world.
At least it will be at Selfridges famous nook, The Corner Shop, which is turning pink from Monday to celebrate the release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, with a host of actors and personalities including America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Dua Lipa and more.
The luxury department store’s windows will feature official movie costumes, meanwhile upstairs there will be a Barbie pop-up in The Toy Store, and next door at the Selfridges cinema, the highly anticipated film will be playing back-to-back.
London-based art director and stylist Theo White has curated a “Barbie Dream Wardrobe Rental,” that spans the Mattel’s doll’s six-decade style, from the ‘70s, ‘80s to the ‘90s, as well as taking into account Barbie’s various careers and what she would wear to some of her day jobs.
Barbie at Selfridges
“The ultimate styling job — mining the treasure trove of Barbie’s fashion doll archive to curate an edit of modern and vintage pieces so that fans can pay homage to icon Barbie careers and eras from power dressing CEO looks to dream ’70s California pieces by renting Barbie’s wardrobe,” White said.
A Barbie ice-cream bar will also be present at the corner shop; merchandise from the film to shop, as well as pieces from collaborations with Impala on roller skates and knitwear with Chinti & Parker.
Makeup artist Lisa Eldridge’s products from her eponymous label were chosen by Mattel to feature in the “Barbie,” pop-up. She also created Lipa’s beauty looks for the movie soundtrack “Dance the Night.”
In the film, Robbie wears different shades of Eldridge’s lipsticks and Ncuti Gatwa wears her foundation.
At Selfridges, the renowned makeup artist has created three looks for fans to try. The first is a “Barbie Land” look, which is all about the color pink, the second is a retro take on Barbie inspired by the doll’s 1959 inception with a cat-eye flick and red lips, and the third is the Ken look, focusing on hydrated matte skin.
“For someone who was into makeup from a young age, I was fascinated by the way Barbie’s makeup style would evolve from year to year,” Eldridge said.
“Of course, as I’m so into vintage makeup, I had to create a look for the first Mattel Barbie from 1959. The classic red lip and kitten flick of eyeliner really captures that ’50s Hollywood glamour,” she added.
Barbie’s affiliation with Selfridges isn’t a new one. The doll was part of the “So In Style” exhibition at the store curated by Sharmadean Reid featuring Black Barbie dolls, meanwhile Matty Bovan and Chrome Hearts have both launched their Barbie collaborations at the store.