A look at 'Oppenheimer' costume designer Ellen Mirojnick and 'Barbie' designer Jacqueline Durran's inspiration

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you will know that both Oppenheimer and Barbie premiered in the cinema on Friday 22 July. The two very contrasting films brought together movie fans that planned a day at the movies watching the blockbusters back to back. 

There have been plenty of memes over the weekend comparing ‘which friend are you’ dressed all in black to watch Oppenheimer or head to toe ink for Barbie? Film fans even compared themselves to the characters from the Netflix Wednesday series Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair. 

The films are very different so we’ve taken a closer look at what was the inspiration behind the costume designs. 

Oppenheimer is based on the physicist J.Robert Oppenheimer and is known as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’. The film follows his story throughout the decades from the 1920’s - 1960’s.

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick has worked on many period projects including ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘The Greatest Showman’. Speaking to WWD Ellen said “It wasn’t about [taking creative] liberties. It was about telling a cinematic story and creating a first-person point of view, which is a very different approach than doing a period piece with historical accuracy down to every last detail.” 

She continued “It’s an approach that was a bit freer. It was very important to be able to move through the story and understand the passage of time without getting hung up on a very specific kind of period detail, which you do a lot of times in doing costumes for period films.”

Ellen explains that although the film spans across the decades the costumes primarily stay consistent throughout and only change subtly. 

On the flip side there is Barbie, the overly pink and not so subtle use of colour used by costume designer Jacqueline Durran. The British designer previously worked on Beauty and the Beast and Little Women. According to the Indian Express Jacqueline revealed where she got the inspiration for Barbie outfits. 

She said “I tried to do a comprehensive sweep of different Barbie looks, one example was all the white and gold Barbie costumes from the ’60s to the ’90s for the block party. I chose the strongest looks with the best hair ornaments and lots of frills, particularly ones that were uniquely Barbie.”

Without giving away any spoilers, eagle-eyed fans that saw the movie over the weekend spotted that the unnamed lady speaking to Barbie on a bench was Oscar Award winning costume designer Ann Roth. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone Barbie director Greta Gerwig revealed that some of the movie executives wanted the scene to be cut but she wanted to keep it in. She explained “She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.”

“And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about. That’s how I saw it. To me, this is the heart of the movie.”