Ken® Styled by © Gareth Pugh

Rooted Black hair. Barbie Collector Platinum Label. In honor of 50 years of fabulous fashion, Ken is styled by one of London’s most significant male fashion talents Gareth Pugh. With his strong design aesthetic, Gareth Pugh has become a highlight of the international fashion calendar. Black patent leather has become a signature of Gareth’s work, and he has chosen to dress his hand made limited edition Ken doll in a look inspired by his first menswear collection, which illustrates his penchant for contrasting matt and shiny surfaces. “Ken came backstage at my Fall/Winter 2009/10 show and selected his favorite outfit for me to recreate exclusively for him.” G. Pugh.

I never had a Barbie or a Ken when I was little, but I’ve always admired how the dolls have adapted and evolved. Ken has never really had a chance to come out of his shell; his style is the antithesis of mine so I tried to remake him in an image that was very specifically me. Inspiration came from my menswear collection, which debuted in Paris earlier this year. We had this naked plastic body, but that terrible preppy hairdo was still there, and it informed everything we did. It didn’t work with my look at all. We tried shaving his head, and unpicking the hair with a needle, but in the end Mattel very kindly sourced some plastic, bald heads from the factory stage before the hair is attached that we could use instead. And then we gave Ken his mohican. Also, it was tricky working with a body shape I’m not used to. My aesthetic is tailored to quite a scrawny, indie physique basically what I know would work on me, and I’ve never been to a gym in my life. So it’s strange to see what my designs look like on this hunky, beefcake bod. It’s great on the doll ? Very Edward Scissorhands meets Calvin Klein model ? But I’m not sure how it would translate to real life!