Christian Siriano practices what he preaches, from the runway down to the make-believe. The designer who cast one of the most inclusive shows during New York Fashion Weekearlier this month is taking that message of high fashion for all to Barbie.
“Me and my sister, we’re big Barbie lovers. I think we had everything from the Dreamhouse to the cars to all the Kens,” says Siriano, in his distinctive, excited tone. The inflections and exaggerated "yasses" still familiar to Project Runway fans.
The designer — who broke out from the competition show and is approaching the 10th anniversary of his first collection — was thrilled to take a call earlier this year from the iconic doll, or rather representatives from Mattel, about a proposed collaboration.
“Designers probably dream to dress Barbie; it was mine as a little boy growing up,” Siriano says.
The idea began as a way to give the doll’s new, broader range of sizes and skin tones the same high-fashion that's been a hallmark of the Barbie brand. Last year, Barbie released three new body shapes for its fashionistas dolls— curvy, tall and petite. In 2015, Barbie added 23 new dolls with different skin tones and hairstyles.
It was a concept Siriano could easily support and when the product was finished, he expressed his excitement on twitter.
So excited to release my series of one-of-a-kind @Barbie dolls wearing looks from our iconic red carpet moments! pic.twitter.com/fQ0pqvsjD9
— Christian Siriano (@CSiriano) September 19, 2017
The designer aims to bring designer fashion to women of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. He’s one of only a handful of designers to cast models size 0 to 16 in his runway shows. And last summer, he answered Leslie Jones’ call for help with a gown after the Saturday Night Live cast member tweeted about being unable to find a designer to dress her for the Ghostbusters premiere.
His red carpet rescue made waves across the Internet, and while he downplays his own part in it, Siriano says it's an important anecdote in a much larger story.
"We have to stop body shaming women that are on the red carpet or wherever, because then it goes into body shaming people in real life and there’s so much hate going on in the world and travesty going on in the world there’s just no time for that anymore," he says. "And I think that’s what hopefully the bigger picture is."
And now, it's become a historic look for Barbie
The designer helped the Barbie team select four of his memorable creations for one-of-a-kind outfits for the dolls, plus a fifth based on his resort 2018 collection.
Jones' sultry red dress has been transformed for the curvy doll. Sarah Hyland's crop top and ball gown skirt from the 2014 Emmys are fitted for the petite size. Sarah Jessica Parker's elaborate skirt seen in the pages of Marie Claire has been elongated for the tall Barbie, and Solange's dramatic yellow jumpsuit from Art Basel in 2014 translated for the original.
Though the fashionistas dolls are on sale $9.99, the clothes are not. However, Mattel has occasionally put one-of-a-kind products into production following high demand, as they did with the Ava Duvernay Shero doll, which quickly sold out.
But the goal of the partnership is more of a fun way to elevate the message that everyone can look beautiful and enjoy on-trend fashion.
"We want kids to feel like, 'I can play with this doll, she looks like me, I can relate to her.' I think that’s what it’s all about," Siriano says.
