Vogue Chaos Issue 12: The Final Word on Barbie Capitalism

PS: This is not a movie critique or a feminist think-piece

Beware of Barbie!

Barbie has had many critiques over the years regarding creating unrealistic body standards in young girls and its lack of diversity. Its somewhat overlooked impact is how it has entrenched overconsumption into little girl’s minds as they bought new dresses for their Barbies as one of the main ways to play with them. Barbie did give flight to our imaginations. We could be anything we wanted to be as long as we were willing to purchase an identity. You can see this reflected in the sinister core-isms of Tiktok today.

Another thing Barbie has in common with fast fashion is how Mattel treats its female factory workers. Even though Barbie tries to sell us on feminism, the factory workers in China are forced to work illegal overtime hours to earn a living wage and are exposed to sexual harassment every day. When this report came out in 2019, Mattel stayed silent on the matter, a critique that was conspicuously absent from the very self-aware Barbie movie.

But this brand of marketing just seems very dangerous and effective. If fast fashion starts opting into the language used to criticise it, we will be left with very little to counter it. Influencers have already opted into ‘there is no ethical consumption under capitalism’ to justify their fast fashion hauls, completely ignoring the original intent of that statement. The guilt we feel when overconsuming is necessary to temper our desires which Mattel tries hard to disarm. Keep your eyes open, the pink is blinding!!! Greta Gerwig has released a kryptonite more dangerous than perhaps anything Oppenheimer built (exaggeration).

Building in critique into your messaging is not new, drag queens have been using it to shut bitches down since forever and I have not shied away from using it earlier. It’s just dangerous in the hands of corporations who have till now relied on plausible deniability.

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Barbenheimer took over an entire month, which is years in internet time and now we are all fatigued with the endless thinkpieces. Even more fatigued with the endless Barbie collaborations and pink timelines – with fast fashion collections by Zara, Aldo, Gap, Puma, etc. and several ‘unoffical’ ones. Wearing pink to Barbie was a global phenomenon and people bought several new items for this occasion. You could not escape the ‘Hi Barbie’ trending sound with atleast 6 different looks each. Let’s just say the vapid consumerism of plastic Shein outfits were an amusing contrast to Margot’s exquisite vintage Chanel looks.

I will go on to say something that will make some of you really mad, but the onus is not on Mattel and you cannot escape responsibility for treating things as disposable. I love how Barbenheimer was a cultural phenomenon that brought us all together in a shared moment. I am so proud to be part of the high fashion twitter community that shared different ways to be wholly involved in the Barbie world without also being wasteful.

My friend @angelmillk organized the most adorable pre-Barbie soirée with themed drinks and cupcakes. Events like this are an excellent way to engage with friends and family that will look just as cool on Instagram as an outfits haul (which infact make you look like a loser with no friends).

Another fun activity which sort of scratches the itch to buy a disposable outfit is this game that my friend Linda (@itgirlenergy) created with her giant pink wishlist of items. It gives the same fun and frivolous dopamine rush to create your outfits with your names and zodiacs. And when this ridiculous method still ends up leading to a better looking outfit than anything you can find on Shein, atleast for me, it kills any urge to spend money on anything less spectacular.

Some of my favourite ways of engaging with Barbie were by my friend @sinntsn who created digital memorabilia in the form of special tickers to the Barbie movie and just sent it to everyone who wanted a keepsake. He also created a Ken-doll version of himself which is FREE and must have kept him busy for atleast an hour. I also created this set of nails in lieu of an outfit that took an hour for each hand.

If you want to dive even deeper and come out as a better, more informed person, just engage your curiosity. Some of my friends were so taken by Oppenheimer that they actually got the book to fill in the blanks that the movie took leaps across. I watched several videos to understand the science (not math) behind the nuclear bomb and another set to understand the politics. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to whip this information out at a dinner party? Win every debate? Silence someone annoying with facts? Here is a list of books that inspired Barbie and Oppenheimer which I found to be quite comprehensive.

These ways of engaging might seem a bit juvenile to an outsider and lead them to gasp ‘WHO HAS TIME FOR THIS!’. Well my friends did you forget the time it took for you to earn that $30 for an ugly outfit you will wear only once? Do you think people can’t see how paper-y it feels through social media filters? We can’t see when the straps won’t stay in place or how the fabric rolls up at the ends? If you’re doing it for the gram atleast do something cunty!