A study on pink or the Barbie craze in the Russian fashion market: how did the release of Greta Gerwig’s movie affect the fashion business?

Barbie, Barbie and more Barbie. Something like this might explain what’s been going on on the internet in the last few months. Greta Gerwig’s newly released worldwide film has truly painted the entire media space pink and taken the barbecue aesthetic to a whole new level. Even when I was searching for “Barbie” on Google, the search page started to explode fireworks of appropriate colors.

Neither big companies nor fashion brands could resist the all-encompassing barbie craze. More recently, Zara introduced a limited collection, Selfridges in London held a full Barbie corner, launched Nike sneakers and even made the letter N in a popular doll aesthetic, and Crocs showed off Barbie slippers.

But that’s not all, Brazilian Burger King is now making pink burgers and Ken’s life-size home has arrived in Malibu. It would take too long to count all the collaborations and marketing activities with Herta Gerwig’s film because they number over a hundred. This was reported by The Guardian in early July.

Margot Robbie, who transformed into a real Barbie during the promotional tour, also influenced the discussion of the movie. Each appearance of the actress on the red carpet was read a reference to images of the original doll. For example, Schiaparelli’s black dress pays homage to the 1961 Barbie, while Vivienne Westwood’s pink outfit is inspired by the 1960 Barbie outfit.

It is worth noting that such an aggressive promotion of the picture was not in vain. According to a study by the Lyst platform, demand for pink increased by 78%, demand for pink dresses increased by 40% and bags increased by 43%. TikTok also shared statistics – videos tagged “barbicore” have been viewed over 600 million times in total.

And how did the movie “Barbie” affect the local fashion market? Today we decided to take care of this and talked with Russian brands about barbicore and the popularity of this aesthetic among our fashionistas.

First of all, let’s say that there are much more pink pieces in the collections of domestic brands. For example, the team of the Mario Berlucci shoe brand, inspired by Margot Robbie, offered customers a limited collection of nine models in rich pink hues. Jewelry brand Rushev also follows trends – just the other day a new collection appeared on the site, where its founder Georgy Rushev rethought barbicore in his own way. But the designers of the post post scriptum brand have painted the iconic elements all pink.

Now let’s move on to statistics. Have brands noticed the special attention paid to pink products? Definitely yes. The 2MOOD team shared with The Fashion Vibes that the brand has increased the amount of pink products this season compared to previous years.

“Demand for pink t-shirts has tripled in the last few months compared to other colors. And pink-sprayed jeans were sold twice as much as other shades, ”added representatives of the brand. By the way, Alisa Tugusheva, the founder of the Blends of Love brand, felt this trend and released a combination dress in various shades of pink, from pastel to fuchsia. As a result, the barbie item has become the most popular item this month.

The insane demand for pink things is noted even by brands that have never worked with it in large quantities. For example, the Present & Simple team told The Fashion Vibes that Candy’s pink pants, which debuted in the spring capsule, received a record number of additions to its waiting list. And the jacket on the set disappeared from the site a few hours after the start of sales.

Trend Island is also seeing an increase in demand for the barbicore aesthetic: “The pink brand range has increased 7-8% in sales. 15-16% of the total range in April and May is 22-24% in June and early July. We expect prime sales in this particular color’s segment after the release of the movie.”

However, Natalia Buzakova, the founder and creative director of the OSOME2SOME brand, states that one of the most popular products of this season is the balloon dress and pink shirt. “Things in pink tones really began to be bought more often than basic wardrobe items, their relevance doubled compared to last season. Our customers were very inspired by Margot Robbie’s look,” he added.

Kirill Leonov, founder of the Gods of Fame brand, thanks barbicore for the popularity of the pink stuff and the founder of the Gods of Fame brand: “Demand for Barbie items has tripled, if not more. I haven’t seen such popularity since Wednesday’s virality.

However, not all brands have noticed a strong increase in demand for the pink stuff. For example, Fiosa Mindibayeva, founder of the Charmstore brand, tells The Fashion Vibes that the brand has historically consisted of pink things. “We are characterized by a high demand for pink things. It has always been there, and the dynamics have been growing strongly over the past few years,” she said. Fiosa’s words were taken by the Nude Story team – brand employees said that products in this color always sell well. But Yulia Kudryavtseva, artistic director and founder of the Seven Lab brand, adds that the explosion of pink in their brand precedes the general obsession with barbicore, so things in this shade are always at the peak of sales.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the barbicore aesthetic definitely deserves the title of popular culture phenomenon. And yes, this phenomenon did not arise spontaneously (like many other trends), but thanks to the well-coordinated work of the PR and marketing teams, who managed to bring the Barbie atmosphere into almost every aspect of our lives. By the number of comments from the founders of the brands, you can see how well thought out each step is, now Greta Gerwig’s film is promoted by almost all Internet users.