A costume designer on the upcoming Barbie film has revealed that Ryan Gosling‘s Ken was given far fewer clothing options compared to Margot Robbie‘s titular character.
Speaking to British Vogue, designer Jacqueline Durran shared that the character of Ken – portrayed by Gosling – plays second fiddle to Robbie’s Barbie in the film, at least when it comes to fashion.
“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 options,” Durran said. As Durran puts it, Ken’s primary job in the film was to be “beach”, with his wardrobe consisting mainly of retro sportswear. “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.”
“Ken is kind of a subsidiary of Barbie. So Hot Skatin’ Barbie is the influence on the rollerblading look in the real world, and Ken just has his own version,” Durran added.
Last month, Barbie received a new trailer, which finally revealed the long-unknown plot of the film. In the trailer, Barbie is seen snapping out of her “perfect” life, verbalising her deepest existential thoughts during a party. “You guys ever think about dying?” she asks, as everyone stares at her.
She realises that other “perfect” elements of her life are slowly falling apart, and is tasked with venturing out into the real world to discover “the truth”. Gosling’s Ken joins her along for her journey.
Set for release on July 21, the film is directed by Greta Gerwig and has been long-awaited by fans. It stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the lead roles as Barbie and Ken respectively.
In April, 20 posters were revealed to promote the film, showing off its stellar all-star cast including Dua Lipa as a mermaid variation of Barbie, Helen Mirren as the narrator, Michael Cera as a character called Allan and Will Ferrell, who plays the Mattel CEO.
Other actors included on the posters include Superstore’s America Ferrera, High Fidelity’s Kingsley Ben-Adir, Sex Education’s Emma Mackey and Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan.