How ‘Barbie’s’ Existential Crisis Is Reflected by Deflating Her Hair and Changing Her Silhouette

variety.com:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie’s perfectly pink world is rocked to the core when she has an existential crisis during a dance party.

What follows is a sequence of events that propel her into an emotional journey as she begins to grow closer to the real world. “It was important that her evolution into becoming human could be reflected in the hair, makeup and costumes,” says Robbie, who also served as the film’s producer. “So, we started mapping her emotional and physical journey through that.” Makeup and hairstylist Ivana Primorac used 18 wigs and 30 hair pieces for Robbie to reflect her transformation.

Primorac worked closely with costume designer Jacqueline Durran, discussing how that visual shift would take place. Barbie’s “a-ha moment” comes when she lies on the ground feeling “defeated, overwhelmed and hopeless.” That was where the volume in her hair could change. “Jacqueline thought that her skirt completely deflated and the colors on it would be washed out.

That was a moment for me to make the hair a normal volume,” Primorac explains, as both she and Durran started to tone down her hair and outfits. “She can’t suddenly go through all those emotions and go through everything she’s going through without those changes.” When it came to framing, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto conveyed Barbie’s self-deprecating thoughts through “simple” techniques. “As Barbie starts her existential crisis, the camera is still innocent,” he explains. “We have these signature shots of her waking up: She stretches, and the camera frames for that.