Luxurious Couture, Ready-to-Wear & Wedding Dresses | Tony Ward Couture

We just had one of those full-circle moments.

The kind that quietly reminds us why we do what we do. Actress and powerhouse Hannah Waddingham was honored with her very own Barbie doll, and it was wearing that Tony Ward gown. Yes, the same one she wore at the 2024 SAG Awards, a gown from our Spring Summer 2024 Couture collection, Golden Ratio.

The dress, in a deep red tone with a liquid-like shine and an off-the-shoulder neckline, was designed to celebrate a woman’s strength and softness all at once. And now, it lives on in miniature, as part of the Barbie ‘Role Model’ series… A touching tribute to women who inspire, uplift, and break boundaries. Hannah’s doll even holds a replica of the clutch she took to the red carpet: a cardboard piece designed by her daughter. We love the story behind that, it’s just full of heart, just like Hannah.

“Being named a ‘Barbie Role Model’ is an incredible, unexpected honor. My ever-present inner 8-year-old self really can’t quite believe it!” Hannah shared. It’s those childhood dreams, she reminded us, that sometimes find their way into reality in the most unexpected ways.

What made this moment even more special? She shares it with her best friend and co-star, Juno Temple. They’re the first ever UK duo to be recognized as Barbie Role Models, honoring not just individual achievement, but female friendship. A theme Tony holds close to his heart. After all, the women he designs for often celebrate their greatest moments with the women who stand by them.

Hannah said she wanted the doll’s arms to have visible muscle, because, as she so rightly put it, that is feminine too. And we couldn’t agree more. At our Ateliers, we’re constantly balancing power and poetry. The Golden Ratio collection (and beyond that) was about exactly that, about finding beauty in proportion, strength in structure, and emotion in craft all while being ‘similar’ to one another. To see one of those gowns reimagined in this way on a doll meant to inspire young girls and that is a kind of legacy we didn’t anticipate, but are deeply proud of.

We design Couture to honor the stories of the women who wear it. And when that story becomes a global icon of girlhood like Barbie? ‘It’s magic’ as Tony says.

With red carpet season around the corner— hello Cannes, we’re ready for you! — we’re looking forward to more of these meaningful fashion moments. Moments where clothes do more than shine. They speak.

And in this case, this one speaks in the voice of an eight-year-old girl, a daughter, a friend, a role model…and the one and only Barbie.