Barbie is the movie event of the summer, and while enjoying the promo tour and the movie, we couldn’t help but notice how many fabulous Barbie easter eggs director Greta Gerwig, producer-star Margot Robbie, and the team snuck in. So we’re rewinding all the way back to the beginning of Barbie’s press run to all of Margot’s amazing Barbie red carpet looks and digging into all of the best references to the real life doll and her many iconic playsets that made it into the film!
Barbie Brought To Life On The Promo Tour
The Barbie team clearly knew that if the movie was going to be a success, they needed to start building the hype early – and letting people know that they really got Barbie. So they brought Barbie into the real world with Margot’s looks during the film’s promo tour. And these weren’t just some half-hearted references to pink and sparkles that might remind you of Barbie, these were near perfect replicas of some of Barbie’s most iconic looks of all time.
The film’s Seoul premiere gave us her first major Barbie look, and we actually got two for the price of one! Margot first appeared in an adorable pink skirt suit, complete with hat and 80s cell phone, and then switched into party-mode a sparkly top and fluffy tutu bottom – a perfect real-life version of the 80’s Day-to-Night Barbie. The iconic 80s Barbie was created to show girls that they could be a successful business woman and still have fun, and Actress-Producer Margot has certainly brought that spirit into the 21st century. For the Seoul press conference, she donned a look inspired by Sparkling Pink Barbie, including matching heart-shaped purse and pillbox hat!
The black sequin dress with tulle hem and cute red rose the actress wore to the film’s Los Angeles premiere was Solo in the Spotlight Barbie to a tee – she even had the pink chiffon scarf in hand! LA also gave us polka dotted Pink and Fabulous Barbie, yellow handbag and all!
Margot brought full Barbie glam to London with her Enchanted Evening outfit. Her custom Vivienne Westwood baby pink evening gown was a near-perfect recreation of Barbie’s 1960s look, with everything from the tulle stole and opera gloves to the stacked pearl necklace.
In Sydney, we finally got an homage to the OG Barbie look, with Margot in black and white stripes, just like the first ever Barbie from 1959. (For a Barbie party, she also wore a Versace dress made famous by supermodel Barbie of the 90s Claudia Schiffer!)
Barbie always loves a good accessory, and one of her favorites became the highlight of the look in Mexico when Margot donned her Earring Magic look. For another photo-call in Mexico she also donned the flowing, crimped hair of the best selling Barbie of all time: Totally Hair Barbie!
All of Margot’s amazing Barbie looks helped get fans so excited for the film and helped kick off the Barbeheimer craze that pushed Barbie to the top of the box office and lead to record-breaking numbers. A big part of the reason why this media push was so successful is that the outfits didn’t just feel like a lame promo gimmick. Seeing Robbie constantly show up in full Barbie gear helped assure Barbie fans that Margot and the team really got the icon and what made her so special, showing that while they were clearly taking Barbie in an updated direction, they didn’t plan on totally leaving the doll we know and love behind.
It of course comes as no surprise that Barbie’s movie is packed with so many references to her iconic history. The creative team really dug deep into Barbie’s iconic background for some great easter eggs for fans to catch, making sure that they touched on a Barbie moment from everyone’s childhood, no matter when you were a kid.
Movie Easter Eggs and References
Barbie’s Dreamhouse – both in real life and in the film – has some odd proportions. The rooms are actually quite a bit smaller than in a normal house and the original Dreamhouse didn’t have stairs. The set designers made sure all of this was carried over into the film, building the sets to not just look but also feel like a Dream House. And we see Barbie float down from the roof since she doesn’t have any stairs, and as narrator Helen Mirren points out, no kid has enough of an attention span to politely walk Barbie down the stairs - you just bring her where she needs to go. They made sure to include all of the important touches, from Barbie’s slide from her bedroom straight to the pool, to her cute doughnut-shaped pool floatie, to her vanity mirror with no… well, mirror. The Dream House also of course has no running water, and so we see Margot miming a shower, just like our Barbies in real life. Skipper’s Tree House also makes a few appearances in the film!
Movie Barbie Land also shares real life Barbie’s plastic goods. Barbie makes herself a plastic breakfast (complete with pretend milk.) And when she’s “driving” her car, it just magically rolls along on its own, without Barbie needing to steer (or even watch where she’s going.) The film uses these humorous moments to highlight the fact that it’s really our imaginations that make Barbie’s world work. There’s also a hilarious scene centered around Barbie’s perpetually arched feet, and what a horror it is when they become normal.
The Barbie logo actually gets a makeover for each new generation, and the logo used for the film is from the 1975 - 1991 era. And there are so many quick shots that reference fan favorite play sets, like the movie theater, the beach, and even Barbie’s airplane! The movie theater also has another easter egg – if you look closely, you’ll see images from the Wizard of Oz displayed, referencing the 1990s Wizard of Oz Barbie set! If you zoom in on the beach scene, you can even see the Statue of Liberty Barbie in the background and a Pegasus statue referencing the 2005 Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus film. Barbie and Ken’s first outfit of choice to explore the real world is neon-clad lycra jumpsuits and rollerblades, and those outfits are directly taken from the totally rad 90s Hot Skatin’ Barbie and Rollerblade Ken. During Ken’s song “I’m Just Ken”, the endless-background set and Kens’ black outfits are a callback to the dream dance sequence in Singin’ in the Rain!
So many different beloved (and not so loved) Barbies show up over the course of the film even some forgotten ones like Video Girl Barbie and Growing Up Skipper. Sugar Daddy Ken might just seem like a joke in the film, but he also actually existed in the real world for a time. He was part of a set of spin-off dolls aimed at adult collectors, and as he points out in the film, his name was supposed to refer to the fact that he was the father of his little dog named Sugar.
Ken’s friend Alan was also a real doll (for a short while) and he could indeed fit in all of Ken’s clothes. Barbie’s friend Midge first appeared way back in 1963, but actually ruffled a lot of feathers decades later when she made her debut as Pregnant Midge in 2003, the version we see in the film. Some parents complained that Pregnant Midge ‘promoted single mothers and teen pregnancy’ and she was discontinued… even though she was a full adult and had in fact married Alan back in 1990. After a behind-the-scenes image of the film’s production leaked, we found out that we were even supposed to get an end credits scene of Midge giving birth (with the film’s narrator Helen Mirren by her side!)
Weird Barbie is an hilarious and important part of the film, representing the dolls that kids messed up for fun, with shorn hair and marker streaks all over her face. In the scene where Barbie goes to Weird Barbie for help, Weird Barbie parodies The Matrix when Neo, too, is given the choice between knowing the real world or staying in the dark. The film also opens with a homage to Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
At the Mattel offices in the Real World, Barbie meets the company’s Board of Directors, who are all men. While this isn’t necessarily true to life (Mattel currently has six men and five women on its board according to its website) it does work well to underline the film’s important message about the problem with patriarchy controlling society.
Creator Ruth Handler appears in the film, played by Rhea Pearlman, in a set of touching scenes of Barbie literally meeting her maker. (Ruth also makes an offhand comment about her own tax troubles, and that is in reference to a real happening – in 1974, Handler was forced to resign as President of Mattel and was then charged with tax fraud and false reporting in 1978.) There was some speculation that the elderly woman on the bench that Barbie meets and has a sweet interaction with was played by Barbara Handler, Ruth’s daughter and the inspiration for Barbie herself, but that was just a rumor – the woman is actually Oscar-winning costume designer Ann Roth!
The Barbie movie has become such a phenomenon not just because it’s a totally awesome, sparkling good time – Greta Gerwig and the rest of the creative team really did their due diligence to make sure the film encompasses everything that Barbie is and has been, good and bad. The hundreds of little details snuck in really make it clear that this film was made by people who truly understand and care for Barbie and what she means to her legions of fans. We’ll all be enjoying and re-watching Barbie for a long time to come, probably finding even more great easter eggs. Were there any references that you caught that we didn’t mention? Make sure to let us know in the comments!
Conclusion
The Barbie movie has become such a phenomenon not just because it’s a totally awesome, sparkling good time – Greta Gerwig and the rest of the creative team really did their due diligence to make sure the film encompasses everything that Barbie is and has been, good and bad. The hundreds of little details snuck in really make it clear that this film was made by people who truly understand and care for Barbie and what she means to her legions of fans. We’ll all be enjoying and re-watching Barbie for a long time to come, probably finding even more great easter eggs. Were there any references that you caught that we didn’t mention? Make sure to let us know in the comments!