How to Wear Barbiecore or Valentino Pink | The Chic List

Millennial Pink just got a makeover, and her name is Valentino Pink. Or should I say Piccioli Pink?

After all, it was the creative brainchild of the luxury house’s Creative Director, Pierpaolo Piccioli to send models in head-to-toe fuchsia during Valentino’s Fall/Winter 2022-23 runway, the four walls even whispering, or perhaps shouting pink!–if indeed they could talk. Pink trench coats, sequined sweater and short sets, and pink dresses with matching tights. The choice to make pink the poster child for high fashion was to reincarnate “millennial pink,” into something less cheugy (although the irony of the term is not lost on me, when we can thank those same millennials for the early 2000s trends revived today).

But pink continues to permeate our culture, with the resurgence of another vintage icon: Barbie. We’ve all turned our heads when seeing Margot Robbie in her hot pink vest and matching bell-bottoms, coming off the film’s set, star-spangled ascot and all. Then that same Malibu Barbie was spotted in Venice, in neon pink bike shorts with a tie-dye leotard over it. I’m sure the SoCal set were taking copious mental notes of her matching visor and lime green knee pads. Perhaps the Jane Fonda-esque workout gear of the ‘80s will make its grand return to Los Angeles Athleisure.    

Let’s not forget which aughts icon coined pink as a color that embodies feminine intelligence in the workplace: Elle Woods. From day to night: Pink earned its place in the world of evening glam from Audrey Hepburn in that blush-draped gown with a long white skirt, a la Funny Face (who could forget the theme song for the color, “Think Pink!”) Then there was Marilyn Monroe, who traipsed down a red-hot staircase, in that bubblegum gown with matching opera gloves (another trend this year), while serenading screens with “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

And yes, pink’s origin’s have more ancient roots, than our Legally Blonde or even Old Hollywood starlets, but the pink we know in modern history in the west, comes from these leading ladies. Just as Elle Woods conquered the courtroom in a rosy wardrobe, I wanted to take on the television studio and our audience’s screens while anchoring the news, weather, reporting and even off-duty as a TV News girl, in various shades of the confectionery color. Here are some of my favorite professionally pink looks that you can wear from the office to brunch this season.

I’ve worn these looks, from power blazer, to statement dress, during some of my biggest career milestones thus far. The shoulder pads of this oversized fuchsia blazer made me stand up even straighter, as I squared my shoulders toward the first lady of the United States, speaking at a podium in an intimate press room. This was while covering her visit, and speech, during a naturalization ceremony at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument. And this off-the-shoulder Chiara Boni La Petite Robe number, with a bustle in the front? The magenta piece, was a hug of confidence, while anchoring the morning news and weather simultaneously. And that fuchsia mid-length dress with a sweetheart neckline, I wore while being interviewed on television about my career.

In the words of Kay Thompson, “Think pink! When you’re shopping for your summer clothes. Think pink! If you want that quel-que-chose!” I know when I’ve chosen to “think pink,” it’s been a sharp decision.

Keeping it Krischic,

Kristin Vartan

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