Editor’s Note
This article explores how Renault’s latest pink concept car taps into the Barbie aesthetic, coinciding with the doll’s resurgence in popular culture through Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film.
Renault, like all car manufacturers, is always on the lookout for the latest fashion trends and seems to have detected this new craze. The paint of its latest concept car is therefore quite naturally pink and could be Barbie’s city car. The doll, dressed and surrounded by her favorite color, also seems to have become the new face of fashion, as she is the subject of a film, which simply bears her name. Directed by Greta Gerwig, who had already made the acclaimed Little Women, this feature film, scheduled for release in a year, has been making a buzz for several months now. Because of its incongruous theme, of course, but also because of its cast, with Margot Robbie playing Barbie and Ryan Gosling taking on the role of Ken.
It didn’t take much more for Hollywood and its celebrities to seize the phenomenon and see life through rose-colored glasses, which they are used to doing. Thus, from Kim Kardashian to Megan Fox, including Anne Hathaway and Nicki Minaj, everyone is showing off in pink. The doll has become furiously ‘in’ and the hashtag #Barbiecore is followed by 12.5 million people on social networks.
The trend has obviously not escaped car manufacturers and, as mentioned, Renault rushed into the matter. Its latest concept, the R5 Diamant designed by Pierre Gonalons, is dressed accordingly. It’s certainly not Barbie pink, but the small city car isn’t too far from it and oscillates between fuchsia and crushed raspberry.
Will others offer this type of color? Will we see Pink Cadillacs, dear to Buddy Van Horn’s film with Clint Eastwood, displayed on our streets? Nothing is less certain. But the fact remains that if this color makes a comeback on the bodies of our cars, this comeback will only be very marginal. The vast majority of them will still be white, gray, and black.
