Rollerblading Barbie and Ken

Come on Barbie, let’s go party! As promised, here are the matching Barbie and Ken outfits that my boyfriend and I wore last Saturday for the Barbenheimer double feature (yes, we wore these outfits to see Oppenheimer as well—good thing it’s dark in the theater). Almost everything is thrifted, and we had so much fun putting these costumes together!

Everyone keeps commenting how amazing my boyfriend is for putting up with my antics, but he was just as excited to dress up for the movie as me (he is the best though—check out our Vincent Van Gogh and Starry Night couples costume from last Halloween). We knew we wanted to thrift our outfits—it’s so much more fun to put together a costume yourself than buying it new—but we weren’t sure which version of Barbie and Ken to go as. There unsurprisingly weren’t a ton of photos online before the movie premiered, but I put together this Pinterest board as inspiration. We had thoughts of normal Barbie and Ken, cowgirl Barbie and Ken, beach Barbie and Ken, and roller blading Barbie and Ken in our minds before heading to our nearest Goodwill to let the clothes speak to us.

Once at the store, we divided and conquered to see what bright, Barbie-themed clothing items we could find. I already had armfuls of pink pieces, but my boyfriend returned with only one thing in his hand—multicolored neon leggings that looked too small for me. “I couldn’t find anything for me,” he said, “but what about these leggings for you?” And that was how we committed to the rollerblading version of the famous doll couple. The pic above was our inspiration photo from that point on!

It took some scouring but we ended up finding a green athletic top and pink running shorts (both from the ladies section) that fit my boyfriend. We thrifted an additional neon green shirt, which I later cut into strips and fashioned into makeshift elbow pads, knee pads, and wristbands (we stuffed the elbow and knee pads with socks for good measure). I browsed the swimsuit section for a pink one-piece to wear over the leggings, but I opted to wear this pink athletic top that I already owned instead.

The hardest thing to find was a bright colorful jacket for Ken’s vest. We sifted through the racks but didn’t find anything that we loved. Finally, we stumbled across a large, tie-dyed denim jacket. I wasn’t convinced about the jacket at first, but we bought it anyway because it was the best we could find. It wasn’t until I cut off the sleeves at home that the look really came together—I didn’t realize how well the colors in the vest and leggings match! It was perfect.

The only thing we bought new were the visors, which were $15 for a pack of five on Amazon. I’ve already worn the green one to the pool and styled the pink one in my Barbie reel, so I think it was a worthwhile purchase. As for the thrifted pieces, I think I spent a total of $35 for the two shirts, pair of shorts, leggings, and denim jacket (the jacket was $15 or something!). Initially it was more than I wanted to spend for a gag outfit, but considering how much fun we had dressing up and taking these pics, I think it was worth it.

Believe it or not, I also already owned the fanny packs (I have three, in fact). I used to always wear a fanny pack during runs at cross country practice in high school and everyone made fun of me for it. So when I was a senior, during our end of year banquet, my gag gift from the junior girls was yet another fanny pack. The perfect gift, really, because I still unashamedly use it all the time.

As for hair and makeup, I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with Margot Robbie’s hair. I tried doing a half-up half-down hairstyle, but that never looks very good on me. Instead, I just pulled my hair over the visor, threw on some hot pink lipstick, and left it at that.

What do you think of our Barbie and Ken costumes?? I don’t think the looks were immediately recognizable since our outfits aren’t entirely pink (and this scene in the movie, as it turns out, is very short). But all of our friends told us how great we looked after watching it and seeing the scene we were recreating. The best part was when a guy stopped us on the street to ask if we were taking wedding photos. Wedding photos?! I don’t know in what world that would make sense in these outfits, but it was funny nonetheless.

All this costume fun has made me wonder what I should dress as for Halloween! Somehow, it will be here before we know it…

Miles of smiles,

Grace