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Is there a little bit of Barbie in all of us this summer? I’m here to tell you: Maybe. When the Vogue beauty team suggested a rom-com-level makeover from my usual Keanu Reeves aesthetic to a Margot Robbie-esque babe, I was intrigued. My daily style leans more toward vintage Cowboy Cut Wranglers and DIY Converse ballet flats than hot pinks and pastels—though there was a time in my youth when people called me a “girly girl,” and I invested in Britney Spears-inspired highlights and lilac Hard Candy eyeshadow. It’s been a while, though. And for a Vogue Barbie transformation that can turn my slick brown French girl (cosplay) bob into XXL blonde waves, I know it’s a job that requires runway-vetted pros.
First, I call up Bumble and Bumble hairstylist Evanie Frausto, who’s known for next-level wig work like the dressage-inspired net styles he hand-tied at Collina Strada this season. Frausto and his lovely assistant Jaz Shepard agree to the idea, setting to work dying my first-ever wig to cut and style on me, live. Next, I turn to Dame Pat McGrath, who lets me know that her key artist Jenna Kuchera (who prepped Dua Lipa for this year’s Met Gala) could fly directly from Schiaparelli’s couture show to New York City to make me over with the help of her assistant Kaia Shu. This is the dream scenario for any beauty editor, and the excuse of a lifetime to cash in on a day of me-me-me care and consideration.
“I love Barbie, I love a transformation, I love Vogue—I’m literally so blonde and so tan right now, I think I unexpectedly am part of the movement; I think we kind of all are,” Frausto tells me of his fresh new set of highlights, not entirely dissimilar to what we’ve seen on Ryan Gosling this summer, but dripping with Frausto’s own cool factor. For inspiration, “I’m looking to Margot Robbie’s red carpet tour, which I feel like is a more fashion-forward Barbie,” he notes of the archival looks Robbie’s been rolling out to global delight. For makeup, I need more va-va-voom than my usual smudgy blush and winged liner—and Kuchera confirms that I’m in the right hands. “My whole life is about creating characters,” she says. “It’s what I’m obsessed with and that’s why I got into makeup, so this is amazing.” We agree to meet at Condé Nast’s downtown headquarters on Friday at 8 a.m. and see where the day takes us.
In the meantime, our resident fashion queens Willow Lindley, Naomi Elizee, Ciarra Lorren Zatorski, and Mai Morsch put together my first personal fitting in the Vogue closet. I’m already picturing myself in some kind of skirt suit, and the eye-popping rainbow of options on the rack brings me to a hot pink Self-Portrait number worn by Gigi Hadid in their campaign. On me, it shows a sliver of my waist and most of my legs, which feels correct (plus, it fits like a glove). I commit to the idea of the frozen-on-point Barbie foot and bring my own handmade Swedish Hasbeen clogs, in white, to click-clack around in without breaking character.
Arriving at the office on Friday, I settle into the glam chair while four sets of hands get to work on what becomes a two-hour blockbuster makeover. Frausto and Shepard braid my hair tightly and cover it in a witchy-looking blonde wig, which Frausto immediately starts cutting into and styling on the spot, something I’ve never seen before. He coats the hair in Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Primer for a reason: “Wig hair is a little more processed than your usual human hair,” he tells me. “So it really helps to seal the cuticle.” Once it’s trimmed into layers, blown out, and wrapped into hot curlers, Thickening Dryspun Texture Spray (which smells great) is what “amplifies soft, bouncy texture” and makes everything look believably bombshell.
Kuchera has already started on my Barbie glow and explains the process behind the contouring and shading that is necessary for photo-ready looks, crafted with Pat McGrath Labs OG hero Skin Fetish Highlighter. “What I really want to keep in mind was the timelessness of Barbie, and keeping those really beautiful skin finishes that feel modern,” she says. Taupe-y shades of Mothership 1: Subliminal palette and fluttery lashes took my eyes to cinematic dimensions. “Having the eyes carved out can go a little too much, but if you keep the skin highlighted and the cheeks a soft pink, it really freshens it up,” she says of using Divine Blush Colour Balm in Peach Lotus to deliver what she calls “juicy” color to my face.
At this point, everyone’s eyes in the room start to widen like saucers, and I’m also struck by how real it all looks. I pull on my three-piece boucle suit and we make our way into the wild, where I stroll around the Financial District and understand why it takes an entourage to create a professional shoot. It’s hot out there, and I stop for a cone that Tyrone at the Real Deal ice cream truck tells me I can have for free. Maybe because I’m blonde now, or maybe because I look like I may actually be part of a promotional tour. Some people are filming me on their iPhones, and I hear something along the lines of “oo la la” from a vendor at the street fair. I FaceTime my husband and can confirm that I’ve never seen the expression on his face that happened when he saw me in the full getup—which looks like some combination of shock, awe, and joy?
Finally, outside of a Subway stop, I spot Patricia Field, the iconic Sex and the City costume designer who I recently interviewed about her own signature beauty look during a Tribeca Film Festival talk with Vogue-alum Sara Klausing. I yell “Pat Field!” and she makes her way over to me as I explain who I am, and that I’m blonde today. “Are you Barbie?” she asks. Soon, people are stopping her on the street for photos, but she comes back to gab for a moment. “What are the odds of seeing you during such a cinematic moment?” I ask. She replies: “Only in New York.”
Listen to Arden Fanning Andrews talk more about her Barbie transformation in this episode of The Run-Through with Vogue podcast.
