When Jacqueline Durran was crafting the costumes for the Barbie film, which whipped the world into a hot-pink frenzy last summer, she first worked out all of Barbie’s outfits – and then she “fitted Ken in”. He is, says the British costume designer perhaps best known for her work on period dramas, “the accessory to what she’s wearing”.
The notion of a clinger-on Ken clearly amused the cast and crew, as much as it tickled the rest of us when the film exploded on to our screens. “Greta had this great image of ‘Kens’,” says Durran, referring to the film’s director Greta Gerwig. “Like what do Kens do when Barbie doesn’t need them? They just stand idling and waiting: they don’t have anywhere to live, they’re just there.” The fact that the film’s main Ken was played by ultimate “internet boyfriend” Ryan Gosling only makes the joke funnier.
