When it came to designing and creating the costumes for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie, the focus was put far more on Margot Robbie’s eponymous doll than it was on Ryan Gosling’s Ken. As the film’s costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, recently told Vogue UK, “No one cares about Ken, everybody just wants to play with Barbie. He matches Barbie and changes too but he has very, very, many less [clothes] options.”
Durran, who won an Oscar for her costume designs on Gerwig’s “Little Women” adaptation, said colorful ’80s sportswear was the key to Ken’s looks in the movie.
“Retro sportswear is one area where we did a lot of shopping for Ken,” Durran said. “He is sporty. That’s his main thing. We had buyers in America that went to dealers and imported it for us because we needed so much of it.”
Durran said her design team only had 11 weeks of prep to making everything before “Barbie” filming got underway. The team was still creating costumes while Gerwig was shooting, which is how Gosling’s pitch to create a Ken-branded set of underwear was able to be approved and worked into the movie.
“We just rushed to make it,” Durran said.
Gosling is well aware that no one cares about Ken, which was part of the allure of accepting the part. His casting was met with some resistance from certain “Barbie” fans who claim he’s too old to play Ken at 42 years old. Gosling told off his critics during an interview with GQ magazine last month.
“It is funny,” Gosling said, “this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?”
Gosling noted that Ken’s entire existence has been to just enjoy the beach and not really exist for any sake other than to be Barbie’s guy.
“And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing,” Gosling said. “But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never fucked with Ken. That’s the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”
“Barbie” opens in theaters July 21 from Warner Bros.
