Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukamal Take Vogue Inside the Making of their Barbie: The World Tour Book
FASHION: They were the looks seen round the world: Margot Robbie in a mini black-and-white Hervé Léger bandage dress, cat-eye sunglasses across her face; Robbie in a fuchsia pencil skirt and matching blazer, a crystal-bedecked Judith Leiber cell-phone clutch in tow; Robbie wearing a ruffle-hem Emilio Pucci dress, long crimped hair cascading down her back. Each look, styled by Andrew Mukamal for the Barbie press tour, defined modern method dressing. Now the internet-breaking fashions are being immortalized in Barbie: The World Tour, a coffee-table book by Mukamal and Robbie, out March 19 from Rizzoli.
A few weeks ago, on a blustery afternoon in New York City, Mukamal visited the Vogue office to walk us through an advance copy of the book; Robbie joined the conversation via Zoom.
“I had the idea when I was in one of the [tour] fittings with Margot,” Mukamal says of the project. “I was collecting all these sketches and fabric swatches from designers, and I was like, ‘Wow, all of this would make the most beautiful coffee-table book.’” While Robbie was also keen to acknowledge the sartorial triumphs of all who contributed to the promotional wardrobe, that desire was heightened when the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike began, abruptly cutting the tour short following a stop in London; trips to New York, Berlin, and Tokyo were canceled. “We still had a bunch of looks that didn’t get their moment,” Robbie says. “We were like, ‘Oh, that’s so sad.’ But then Andrew found a way for them to have their moment.”
A who’s who of creative talents brought the book to life: Art direction was led by Fabien Baron; Craig McDean signed on as photographer; and Edward Enninful wrote the foreword. The introduction and afterword were penned by Margaret Zhang and Greta Gerwig, respectively.
Ahead, Mukamal and Robbie share highlights from Barbie: The World Tour, a visual feast of vintage dolls, handwritten designer notes, and never-before-seen looks.
Andrew Mukamal: We had a reference photo, and we thought this would be an amazing way to shoot one of the looks—Margot laying flat. Obviously, it very much references Barbie in her box. This is the Claudia Schiffer Chanel suit we had intended to wear in Tokyo, which Margot also wore in the film. She’s 12 and a half inches on the book’s cover, which is exactly how tall Barbie is. If you see the book on top of a coffee table, it’s almost like a Barbie doll lying there waiting for you to play with her. Hopefully that’s what the experience of flipping through it is like—dressing her up in different outfits and being part of the process of designing them.
Worn in Bondi Beach, Australia
Margot Robbie: The method dressing was Andrew’s genius; I definitely can’t take credit. But I did say, “If there was ever an opportunity to really have fun on a press tour with the looks, it’s now.” Because Barbie and fashion are so synonymous and because the movie is so maximalist and zany and poppy and joyful, it felt appropriate to really have fun with it.
Mukamal: This was the first big moment on the tour and in Margot’s home country, so I was basically like, She has to wear a hot, cool version of the black-and-white striped bathing suit. That would just feel so spot-on to me.
Robbie: I loved it. The Hervé Léger bandage dress was a genius way of accomplishing the swimsuit look. And Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses that go with it? It was all just so cool.
Mukamal: And the Manolo [Blahnik] mules he designed specially for this project. Working with him and his team was an absolute dream.
Intended for Berlin
Robbie: What impressed me most was how much research Andrew did. His ideas were insane, but they all came from the Barbie archives and his research. It never felt like we were being too crazy because it was all rooted in something real.
Mukamal: This is also from 1959, Barbie’s first year. Hubert [de Givenchy] created this bubble hem in the fifties, which is exactly what this doll was inspired by during that period. If we were going to Paris, we obviously would have worn this there, but we weren’t; Berlin was the closest we were going to get.
Robbie: And we didn’t make it to Berlin!
Intended for New York City
Robbie: I mean, this is so Barbie.
Mukamal: It would have looked really good in paparazzi photos.
Robbie: Getting photographed on the move, the little cape trailing behind—that would have looked amazing.
Mukamal: Yeah, we were thinking about that. For a city like New York, we were like, What would look cool if you get papped on the street? And [the Carolina Herrera team] killed it. They made all the jewelry custom too.
Mukamal: [We] were going to go to Tokyo, and we were like, Maybe it would be really cool to show up there and be still serving full-on Barbie but in a more elevated and chic way. This Miu Miu is very Miuccia.
Robbie: The look is so good. The little headband! The fur trim!
Mukamal: Gigi Burris made an insane custom headband out of extra faux fur that we got from Miu Miu. And shout-out to Gigi, who made a lot of the beautiful headwear in the book. With some of these looks, you need an expert milliner like her, and there are not enough of them in the fashion industry.
Muakamal: We had a three-day photo shoot for the book, which, to be completely honest, was pretty insane. We were really packing it in.
Robbie: We were throwing on clothes and going and going, and then at one point, we were like, “We need a picture together.”
Mukamal: We started off quite serious, both of us standing there with our arms crossed, looking into Craig’s lens. The whole day everybody’s like, “Oh, my God, Margot, you look amazing!” And the minute I get in front of the lens, it’s crickets. [Laughs] Then they’re like, “Maybe you should do something, Andrew?” And I was like, “What can I do? Pin her dress?” Meanwhile, it’s a perfectly fitted custom Prada dress. So I just got down on one knee and pretended to measure the length of her dress. A few snaps later, we ended up with a really cute pic.
