This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a film rife with larger-than-life, extremely pink, across-the-board tremendous fashion, largely courtesy of costume designer Jacqueline Durran (who has powerfully informed the popularity of Barbiecore). The girls are girling in every possible iteration, from President Barbie Issa Rae’s power suits to Margot Robbie’s neon roller blades; so why is the look I can’t stop thinking about one that’s worn by (gasp)...Ken?
I refuse to spoil the plot of Barbie for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it (Although I’m totally comfortable offering spoilers for Oppenheimer: Unfortunately, they do make the bomb. But I digress!), so I won’t delve into why Ryan Gosling’s Ken appears toward the end of the film wearing a tie-dye “I Am Enough” sweatshirt. But suffice it to say that it’s the update to the very-popular-in-2017 “The Future Is Female” T-shirt that I never knew I needed. It’s garish, it’s chill, it’s Malibu-with-a-touch-of-frat-boy, but, like, in an endearing way; basically, the minute I saw it, I knew I needed to figure out a way to find one for my partner, who I would describe as a Ken of the highest order (Allan rising).
There is an official “I Am Kenough” sweatshirt for sale online, but unfortunately for me, my partner, and the greater culture at large, it doesn’t ship until September 29, 2023. I would encourage the Hollywood execs pulling the levers behind Barbie to focus the majority of their attention on resolving the writers’ and actors’ strike that’s already grounded major movies—but if they have a shred of spare time once that is over (your move, AMPTP!), maybe they could, I don’t know, get those sweatshirts out sooner? Fingers crossed.
