Barbie's pink continues to reign supreme - but what does the colour symbolise?
As of 6 August 2023, Barbie has grossed a worldwide total of £800 million ($1bn), splashing our screens with her brand of pink.
The popularity of the film has quickly become the event of the season with people donning the iconic colour to watch it in cinemas globally. One woman even cancelled a date with her boyfriend for not wearing pink.
But, how much do you know about what the colour symbolises?
What pink means
According to Jules Standish, colour analysis expert and head of colour at the London College of Style, pink is a nurturing, softer and comforting alternative to red, personifying romance. She says it gives a "caring, sharing vibe".
"Pink is a compassionate colour but embodies personalities, moods and dreams in its various shades," she tells Yahoo UK.
Colours affect human behaviour and influence emotional responses, she explains. "Wearing bright pinks signify a bold and outgoing trait but softer shades suggest an introvert character," says Standish.
"Pastel pinks tend to be worn by younger people but pair it with navy and grey and it grows up."
Pink's history
According to historian Dr Valerie Steele, pink was a popular unisex colour in 18th-century Europe in sharp contrast to the 19th and 20th centuries when pink was considered a "feminine" shade.
Lecturer of cultural studies, Dr Harriet Fletcher at Anglia Ruskin University writes in The Conversation, that King Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour, influenced pink fashion and was often portrayed wearing pink gowns and shoes by the painter François Boucher.
Standish believes that "it is a fluid colour that can be associated with male and female."
She recalls Pantone’s colour of the year was a dusty pink (Rose Quartz) and a cool, soft blue (Serenity) which for her symbolised people as equal of status in gender.
"It awakened everyone, pink has no boundaries and Barbie has made it very pink. A fluid colour and can be associated with male and female," Standish added.
Though the colour pink has been associated with Breast Cancer Research, since 2007 there has been an International Day of Pink, which raises awareness of bullying and discrimination, homophobia, transphobia and transmisogyny worldwide.
The birth of 'Barbiecore'
The term Barbiecore was first coined after the Valentino Fall runway show in March 2022 and news of the Barbie movie was released. Since 2019, a plethora of Barbie Pinterest boards have been created and currently a trending hashtag on TikTok attracting 878 million views.
Searches for "outfit ideas for the barbie movie" have garnered 5.1 million views. There are also over half a million #barbicore Instagram posts.
"Pink has gone up mentally, things in pink whether it’s shoes, bags, clothes or hats or anything else have gone up!" said Standish.
The trend gained popularity in June 2022 following the release of pink-clad Margot Robbie as Barbie.
Men wear pink too
Male celebrities, like Harry Styles, have embraced the colour, but even in the 50s before Barbie was born, men wore pink.
Elvis Presley, for example, wore pink clothes, slept in a pink bedroom and drove a pink car. In the 1970s, Paul Simonon, bass guitarist for the Clash said, “Pink is the only true rock and roll colour.”
On men wearing pink, Standish described it as, "A welcome sight that men have started to wear pink shirts in the workplace, what it shows is that men are not afraid, to express themselves in fun loving ways. Everyone wants to talk about pink breaking boundaries; it’s a fabulous time and certainly since Covid we needed to be frivolous."
For Standish, the Barbie female lead has proved that genders can be together on a platform embodying female and male empowerment and "whoever you are, this film is fun."
She concludes that with Barbie’s film success, bold and bright shades of pink are having a strong appeal at a time when many face difficult and challenging times, the film evokes a sense of hope.
