Carbon Costume 
Ryan Gosling from ‘I’m Just Ken’ Oscars Performance
This past weekend, the 2024 Oscars were more than memorable thanks to Ryan Gosling bringing the Kenergy to the awards with his explosive live performance of ‘I’m Just Ken.’ Although Barbie didn’t win best picture or director, Ryan truly made a lasting impression by flooding our screens and the stage with pink. He was accompanied by a large ensemble of Kens supporting him as background dancers. The look of the performance was inspired by the famous scene featuring Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Of course in this case, Ryan is the iconic blonde and the ensemble wear costumes inspired by the men in the ensemble from the film. Choosing this classic film as inspiration is also fitting as Greta Gerwig took a lot of inspiration from large sweeping sound-stage musicals from that time. The I’m Just Ken scene in Barbie is actually inspired by Singin’ in the Rain, from the dream ballet sequence with Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly.
Ryan wore an all-pink outfit to this performance. This can be created by wearing a hot-pink suit, pink shirt, pink gloves, pink socks, black dress shoes, and fashionable black sunglasses. The rhinestones can be added with AB rhinestones and glued with E6000. A black cowboy hat can also be added like he wears in the very beginning of the performance. This would make for a great duo or group costume with your favorite Kens as the background dancers.
Midge from Barbie (2023)
Midge is a minor character in the hit 2023 movie Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. Midge is Barbie‘s friend and neighbor. She lives with Skipper in her purple treehouse, based on the actual toy. Midge is noticeably pregnant. She is portrayed in the movie by Emerald Fennell.
Doctor Barbie from Barbie (2023)
Doctor Barbie is a character in the hit 2023 movie Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. She is the resident doctor in Barbie Land. Ken visits Doctor Barbie after hurting himself the beach (trying to impress Barbie, of course). She is portrayed by transgender actress Hari Nef. Her appearance in the movie sends a supportive message to the transgender community.
Cowboy Ken from Barbie (2023)
Cowboy Ken is a supporting character in the hit 2023 movie Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. He is one of the many Kens in Barbie Land. His partner Barbie is Physicist Barbie. His style is Western meets beach. He is portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa, who you may recognize as Eric Effiong from Sex Education and soon to be the 14th Doctor in Doctor Who. Check out Ryan Gosling’s Ken costume here.
Mermaid Barbie (2023)
Mermaid Barbie is a character in the hit 2023 movie Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. She’s one of the many Barbies in Barbie Land, with blue, purple, and pink variants – making this the perfect trio cosplay. She’s portrayed by pop artist Dua Lipa – who sings the movie’s bespoke discopop song “Dance the Night Away”. The tail isn’t entirely accurate – we never see Mermaid Barbie’s full tail in the movie – but the color palette is so Barbie!
Mattel CEO from Barbie (2023)
The hilarious Will Ferrell plays the CEO of Mattel in the new movie Barbie by Greta Gerwig. The actual CEO of Mattel is Ynon Kreiz, who the character is based off of. This character exists in the real world that Barbie enters and the costume reflects that.
This CEO wears a black suit with pink details like a pink shirt and pink tie, representative of Barbie at the company. Add pink socks for an extra fun detail and pair with black dress shoes or black roller skates to match the suit.
Greta Gerwig on the Set of Barbie
Greta Gerwig is the director of the new 2023 film Barbie. The Barbie movie follows Barbie and Ken’s journey into the real world and we meet more iconic Barbie dolls from Mattel along the way. Gerwig tends to dress in a way that fits the theme of what she is directing. For Barbie, the rest of the crew were also encouraged to wear pink to set everyday, creating an even more immersive environment for the cast. On this set Gerwig wore various coveralls or jumpsuits, and always pink headphones. Add a pink lanyard to tie it all together!
Allan from Barbie (2023)
There’s only one Allan. Allan is played by Michael Cera in the new movie Barbie by Greta Gerwig. He is based off of a real life and unpopular doll in the Barbie universe. He’s not a Ken but was made and released with the intention of being a buddy to Ken-He’s just Allan.
Allan’s costume is based off of the original 1960s doll and looks identical to its outfit. He wears a white and multicolored striped and collared shirt, blue shorts, blue sandals or flip-flops, and has orange hair.
President Barbie from Barbie (2023)
President Barbie is played by Issa Rae in the new movie Barbie by Greta Gerwig. President Barbie exists in the Barbie world in the film, and is leader over the pink utopia with her all-female team.
President Barbie’s look isn’t a traditional presidential one. Issa was involved in the ideation of the costume and wanted her to look like what a little girl’s idea of what a president would look like. She wears a gorgeous poofy pink princess dress with gold details. She always wears a pink sash that says president over every outfit.
Weird Barbie from Barbie (2023)
Weird Barbie, played by Kate McKinnon is from the new Barbie movie, by Greta Gerwig. Weird Barbie is based off of those Barbies that you may have had when you were a kid that you played with too hard, like cutting their hair and drawing on them with markers. Gerwig revealed that in the movie she is an all-knowing kind of character like The Giver and lives separately from the other Barbies in her own wacky house.
To dress like this hilarious character, use bright fabric paint on a pink puffy dress, a short blonde wig to cut up unevenly and add blue and pink hair chalk, face paint crayons, and pair with tall patterned boots.
