Marni Senofonte Collaborates with Barbie

Barbie has collaborated with some pretty major stars and designers in the past—Zendaya, Ava Duvernay, Karl Lagerfeld, and Moschino are among that special lot. And its latest partnership is with one of our favorite fashionistas and image makers in the world: none other than famed stylist Marni Senofonte.

“I remember cutting her hair,” the Lemonade and Formation stylist stated about her childhood Barbie memories in an interview with InStyle. “I don’t remember how old I was. My parents were teenagers, and they had like no money. I just remember waking up on Christmas morning and seeing a stack of individually wrapped—maybe like 15—packages.” Like so many of us, playing with her Barbie dolls was Senofonte’s first foray into putting together looks.

“I think it was because I was able to express and kind of put Barbie into anything,” she continued. “Any kind of ribbon that I had, or whatnot, I would play around with and make her shoes strap all the way up to her thighs… [Barbie] was like the first kind of object that I was able to express [creativity] through clothing. And I went to Catholic school. I had to wear a uniform my whole life, which was a nightmare for somebody like me.” So for Senofonte, both playing with and dressing Barbie was a form of expression and a sartorial therapy of sorts.

Yesterday, Barbie Style released news of Senofonte’s collaboration to its almost 2 million Instagram followers. “Victorian Punk has been long brewing inside me, the nonconformist in me naturally manifested Victorian into Victorian Punk and the Barbie crew wears it well!,” exclaimed the stylist in one of the brand’s posts. Curves, natural hair, and melanin are all present in the collection.
Of its inclusivity, Senofonte explained, “When I saw all of these shapes and sizes—that alone was the inspiration. We have so many different sized women, and it’s like—especially the bigger women, they always feel like there’s nothing that fits them or makes them look cute. It was just so important to me with the Barbie collection to show a curvy woman or a shorter woman that it’s all possible.” She also wants curvy women to feel comfortable wearing whatever they want. “Everyone can have this,” she exclaimed. “Everyone can do it. And everyone in every size—we can all be cute. It’s not just for a certain size or a certain color.”