Last summer, Greta Gerwig's Barbie reminded audiences that a doll—and the people who play with them—can be anything. The message found more meaning on its red (well, pink) carpet, where star Kate McKinnon wore a custom magenta suit by Daniella Kallmeyer featuring a "Gay Barbie" patch on the inside.
"It kind of went viral, and we joked that lesbian Twitter lost their minds from this gay Barbie patch," Kallmeyer, a queer designer with a loyal following in New York City's fashion scene, reflects on the phone with me nearly a year later. "Kate specifically being an out, proud actor playing this unexpected, unconventional character breaking outside of this stereotype of Barbie being a perfect woman spoke to so much of what I believe in. And I got quite emotional about it."
