After summer 2023 was chock full of pink, pink and more pink, we’ve seen most of the celebrity fashion fads shift away from the color. In fact, red carpets this summer have been dominated by looks like tenniscore (thank Zendaya) and corset dresses in plenty of colors. But Blake Lively recently took the latter trend and threw back to Barbiecore in a way that was really lovely.
In It Ends with Us Lively plays a character known as Lily Blossom Bloom, and for the majority of the press tour the actress has really worked to live up to her namesake. Which has meant a lot of floral prints. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot, from stealing husband Ryan Reynolds’ floral shirt to rocking some flowery and feathery pastel looks that were on theme on the press tour. I mean, seriously, if you’ve ever wanted a master class in creative floral dressing, this has been it.
But for the afterparty of the It Ends with Us premiere, the actress took a step in a completely different direction. She favored a pink satin corset dress with pink shoes and pink earrings to match. Pink’s always been a good color for her, and whether intentional or not, I like that the move nods at the big movie that got ladies into the theaters last summer while acknowledging that It Ends With Us is doing the same thing for the 2024 movie release schedule. The movie made $50 million on opening weekend, nearly beating Deadpool and Wolverine in its third weekend.
That’s certainly not a number to scoff at.
Interestingly, It Ends with Us was made on a mid-level budget, with estimates putting it around $25 million, and despite not having a ton of extra money to play with, Lily Blooms’ fashion has been a key focal point of the movie as well as the press surrounding it. As the movie was coming out, the costume designer on set spoke out about how Lively would even bring some of her own stuff to the set of It Ends with Us to amp up Ms. Bloom’s looks quite a bit. Eric Daman told People:
Blake brought in her own jewelry, her Lorraine Schwartz jewelry. I didn’t have budget for that. She has incredible taste and incredible things.
So, it’s very clear that Lively’s looks within the movie and on the press tour have had a lot of intention behind them. While Margot Robbie has said she’ll “love [pink] forever,” if this is a last hurrah for Barbiecore, I absolutely think this was the right movie and the right woman to champion it.
It Ends with Us is out in theaters right now.