The Summer Of Barbie: 2023 (A Pop Culture Touchstones Post)

In July of 2023, the Barbie live-action movie was released in the United States. It became the highest-grossing film of 2023 and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. That summer was dubbed “The Summer Of Barbie”, and terms like “Barbiecore” and “Kenough” became buzzwords.

In the interest of full transparency, I’ll go on record to say that I rode the pipeline from playing with Barbies in my childhood, to ‘collecting’ Barbies in my teen and adult years. I loved Barbie when Barbie wasn’t cool, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for fashion dolls, even though my doll collecting hobby is currently on the back burner. Although fashion dolls aren’t as much of a priority in my life as they once were, knowing me I’ll probably go back to them eventually. I always do.

However, despite my enduring fondness for Barbie, I still haven’t brought myself to watch the live-action movie. I know how sensitive I can be, and I’m worried how I’ll react to a cherished icon from my formative years potentially being skewered or poked fun at for the sake of satire and social commentary, even if it is justified. My own childhood ideals of what Barbie is or isn’t are still so ingrained in me, that I worry it would wound me too deeply if they were challenged by an official source authorized by ‘the voice of corporate’.

But to get back on track with this post, the movie’s promotional campaign and its popularity resulted in the Barbiecore trend taking hold in both fashion and décor. Hot pink was the in color for that season, both to wear and for decorating. And it seemed like every retail store from Forever 21 to Five Below had displays of Barbie themed accessories for sale.

So, as a throwback to that now passed, pink-tinted summer, here’s a Barbiecore keychain.

I bought it on clearance at a liquidation store after all the hoopla was over. The keychain itself is made from metal and shaped like Barbie’s signature, with pink, script lettering. Fun fact, the color “Barbie pink”, a specific combination of pink and magenta, is actually trademarked by Mattel. This particular keychain was produced by Innovative Designs, LLC under license from Mattel.

I’m hoping to do more ‘Pop Culture Touchstones’ posts in the future, using my keychain collection to revisit past trends. So far, trying to research exactly when certain things were trendy has been a bit tricky for me, even with the internet. Does anyone remember what year those gecko keychains made from plastic ‘pony beads’ took the children’s crafting world by storm?

Signed, Treesa

'Throwback' Package From Heathersmoo: August 2021

I thought that I already blogged about this particular gift package when it arrived. But apparently, I hadn’t. At least, I can’t find a post about it here. This package was originally sent in August of 2021 by my keychain collecting email pen pal, Heathersmoo of Livejournal. Inside was a sweet note from Heather, along with two keychains, one for me and one for my “IRL thrift store Bff” (as Heather referred to my best friend/willing thrift store shopping buddy in the note). I'd already delivered my best friend’s keychain gift quite a while ago, which might explain why I thought I previously posted about Heather's package here on the blog.

According to Heather’s note, my keychain was “the fancy one with the plane”. The one for my best friend didn’t have an added jewelry charm. Both keychains were handmade by Heather herself, and her wire-wrapping skills definitely surpass mine. To be fair, I don’t really practice enough to develop a talent for wirework jewelry.

The red wire coils and blue beads give this keychain sort of a patriotic vibe, while the pink and red color combination of wires gives more of a Valentine’s Day feel. In my opinion, the fact that the keychain isn’t clearly one or the other gives the piece more versatility. While I do enjoy holiday themed items, in season, I’ve noticed that, with clothing for example, there are certain pieces that I don’t wear very much because they’re specifically holiday themed and feel inappropriate at other times of year. I can get away with wearing a snowflake patterned fleece jacket all winter, at least here in the northeastern United States. But characters in Santa hats or even holly and poinsettias are specifically associated with Christmas here in the U.S., and I'd feel too uncomfortable to wear them in January.

I'm sorry for going off topic there. The point is, this keychain was a very thoughtful and much appreciated gift, even though it took me a few years to post about it. So, thank you Heather. I hope that you and all of my readers are doing well. January can be a rather humdrum time of year, but spring comes eventually.

Signed, Treesa