How Barbie’s Final Two Outfits Tie Into Her Ending

Full of dozens of colorful kaleidoscopic costumes, Barbie boasted an impressive wardrobe for its entire cast. Even background characters wore memorable garments, from President Barbie to Doctor Barbie. With decades of inspiration from the dolls, the film showcased clothes from different decades of Barbie history, like Margot Robbie’s stereotypical Barbie wearing the exact same black and white striped swimsuit that the first ever Barbie doll donned back in the 1950s. Thanks to costume designer Jacqueline Durran, everyone’s favorite doll got to wear many dazzling outfits.

Barbie provided audiences with a variety of iconic looks, from Barbie’s pink cowgirl costume to her neon leotard, bike shorts, and visor. Halloween 2023 is sure to be full of Barbie-themed costumes. It’s the last two outfits the titular character wore. However, that reflected all the change and growth she experienced throughout the film the best. Barbie’s yellow dress and her blazer/jeans combination in the final two scenes of the movie displayed how Barbie’s character arc came full circle by the end of the film.

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Barbie’s Yellow Represented A Major Evolution

In her last scene in Barbieland, our protagonist wore a flowing yellow dress with bell sleeves and a glistening gold heart locket. She stood on a pair of wedge heels, the final pair she ended up wearing in the film. Durran spoke about how she and the costume team brought this look to life and the intentional choices they made to highlight Barbie’s growth through both the dress and accompanying accessories.

This was the only time in the movie that Barbie wore yellow, showing how she’s changed and that this moment was a landmark moment for her character. Yellow was also likened to sunlight, which gives and sustains life. Barbie chose a new life for herself, and her choice symbolized her happiness and freedom. While her decision to leave Barbieland and everything she knew behind may have appeared bittersweet, Barbie knew she’d be happier in the real world as a human being; it’s ultimately a choice that gave her a happier, more fulfilling new life. Like sunlight, Barbie’s warm and kind personality was also going to help all the new people she met in the real world, just like she did in Barbieland.

Notably, she was not wearing any bracelets, and her earrings were simple and small, but her heart locket was also more than just a pretty, shiny accessory. It represented Barbie’s love of humanity and the real world. She saw all the complicated, complex emotions that came with being human, and she still made the decision to leave plastic perfection for the messy, often mundane world of reality. But to Barbie, even the mundane proved to be magical, as the audience saw in her final scene and in her final outfit.

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Barbie’s Final Outfit United Two Worlds

In the final scene of Barbie, the titular character rocked a beige blazer, white shirt, and blue jeans for her first doctor’s appointment in the real world. With her long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, Barbie looked just like any other human strolling around the sun-drenched Los Angeles streets, albeit a very beautiful one. It’s her simplest look yet, carrying on the more understated elegance of her previous yellow dress ensemble from the scene before. But it also helped solidify her character arc and showed just how much she developed and grew over the movie.

Barbie started off the film wearing bright colors, various patterns, and, of course, plenty of sparkles and glitter. Those outfits helped her blend into the eclectic, pink-drenched world of Barbieland. While she looked beautiful in all of them, and any fashion lover would do anything to get that wardrobe, those clothes showed that she dressed similarly to her fellow dolls. While there’s nothing wrong with dressing very feminine alongside your friends, this doctor’s office outfit was the first outfit Barbie chose for herself outside Barbieland. It represented that she was no longer a doll adhering to the fashion standards of her brand. Now, she’s a human who has complete autonomy over her clothing and the rest of her life.

While her final outfit was untraditional, Barbie still had plenty of pink to go around. Both her Birkenstocks and the massive purse on her arm shined a soft baby pink, reflecting how she hadn’t forgotten where she came from, nor did she completely want to erase her personality and preferences. She still rocks and loves the color pink, just like how she still loves her fellow Barbies and Kens. She’s also took Weird Barbie’s advice and accepted the Birkenstock over the high heel, i.e., choosing to uncover the truth of humanity over staying in her plastic Barbieland bubble. Any fashion aficionado knew that shoes and a bag could tie any look together, and Barbie was no exception to the rule. Barbie’s splashes of pink helped her stand out on the street and let her bubbly personality shine through her simple visit to the doctor. She may have left Barbieland behind, but not her love of bright colors, bold fashion, and, of course, her signature color.

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Barbie’s Costumes Visually Captured Her Growth

Barbie’s fashion choices showed that there was a lot more depth to her character and all she experienced. Every outfit she wore proved to be an intentional decision, as it reflected what she was going through emotionally and in the world around her. While her final two outfits showcased this the best, audiences saw this all throughout the film. Her neon rollerblading getup and pink cowgirl costume showed how she was initially a fish out of water in the real world. Her checkered pink dress in the opening scene reflected her naivety. Barbie’s clothes were an extension of herself: beautiful at first glance and full of deeper meaning.

Fashion allowed for the wearer to show off their personality, interests, likes, and style. In media, clothing could tell a character’s entire story wordlessly. For example, in another beloved female-centric film, Legally Blonde, Elle Wood’s pink courtroom dress foreshadowed how she won the trial by staying true to herself and her interests. This was just like how Barbie’s yellow dress foreshadowed a similar lesson and transition. It has always been a staple of the history of the Barbie doll to reflect the changing decades and trends of the world. Jacqueline Durran helped honor that history through her costuming, and she helped illuminate the beautiful ending of Barbie’s story through the clothes the titular doll wore.