Darren Barnett is wearing Pink.
In fact, the Never Have I Ever star and brand ambassador says he’s a big fan of Pink’s gender-neutral assortment.
Darren Barnet in Pink’s gender neutral collection.
Courtesy photo
“Honestly, I was very surprised by how much I liked the line itself,” Barnet told WWD over the phone. “They’re actually things I wear all the time; they are things that are very comparable to the things I wear in my style and my collection. I wear it around the house. I have worn it, literally, in one [red] front carpet and photos taken with it. I just did a magazine photo shoot with her. I have traveled with him; I wear it on the plane.”
Right now that trip includes a trip to the Dominican Republic, where the rising star is filming his latest movie, after which he’ll fly to his next film location. “And potentially another show,” Barnet explained. “I’m too busy right now.”
Actor and Pink brand ambassador Darren Barnet in pieces from Pink’s gender-neutral collection.
Courtesy photo
Last spring, however, he found time to become Pink’s brand ambassador — the lingerie and loungewear brand’s first male ambassador — as it launched a new gender-neutral collection.
As part of the partnership, Barnet served as a judge on this year’s selection committee for the fourth annual Pink With Purpose project together Other brand ambassadors, model Remi Bader and R&B duo Chloe x Halle. Tit the initiative awards $25,000 in grants 10 young people, aged 18 to 28, to help them fund local projects and causes. The latest group of winners, which the brand will reveal on Tuesday, were all women. But Pink’s representatives said the scholarship is open to both women and men.
Actor and brand ambassador Darren Barnet, right, poses with recipients of the Pink With Purpose Project’s fourth annual scholarship.
Courtesy photo
“The Pink With Purpose project was a really fulfilling experience for me,” said Barnet. “Seeing the smiles and the genuine joy on the girls’ faces when they won this grant to foster a project that they found to be, you know, following all the Pink guidelines of inclusion and community, was really rewarding for me.”
So is empowering women, something that both Pink’s parent company, Victoria’s Secret & Co, and the actor have said is important to them. In the case of the former, Victoria’s Secret has spent the past few years trying to rebrand itself as an “advocate for women” amid declining sales, the #MeToo Movement and consumers’ desire for more inclusive products and marketing materials. Victoria’s Secret has responded by adding plus sizes, transgender and disabled models in her lineup, eliminated the Almost Perfect Angels, and her annual fashion show, launched a gender-neutral Tween brand called Happy Nation AND formed the VS Collective, among others.
So far the reactions have been mixed. While the firm met Wall Street expectations last quarter, some consumers aren’t buying the underwear giant’s model.
Recently, TikTok creator Jax’s song “Victoria’s Secret” caused a viral backlash. So much so that Pink’s CEO Amy Hauk apologized to consumers on Instagram.
“We make no excuses for the past,” Hauk wrote on the platform. “And we are committed to earning your trust back. Our transformation is a journey and every day we are working hard to protect all women.”
Barnet, meanwhile, said his passion for female empowerment stemmed from growing up around many strong women, namely his mother, two sisters and grandmother.
“I never grew up in a country where I didn’t see women empowered; women have always been the most powerful force for me,” he said. “[But] the older I got, the more I got into the workforce, whatever business it was, I would see how sloppy it could be. [Still] I have always known the power that women carry within themselves, having been raised by very powerful women. I think the world is definitely changing now. So I like the change. I pray that it continues to change and I think Pink has a strong foot in that fight.”
The actor added that the transformation of Victoria’s Secret “has been a positive change in the right direction. And I think the drive is there and I’m excited to see what’s more to come.”
Darren Barnet in pieces from Pink’s gender-neutral collection. Pink is owned by Victoria’s Secret & Co.
Courtesy photo
While Barnet admitted he “wasn’t very educated about the brand” when Pink first approached him (“I kind of took it as, it was a girl’s line,” he said), his perspective has since changed.
“When Pink came to me, I was like, ‘What does that mean?'” he explained. “But then I saw they were doing a genderless line. It opened my eyes [the brand] much more. So I won’t say I wasn’t a fan [before the partnership]. I knew it was a very popular brand and, you know, a very popular brand. But, yeah, when Pink came to me, it opened up a whole new world to me in terms of what it was.
“It’s interesting that clothes are clothes and what you’re told to wear is definitely a construct of your environment and what you grow up with, and, you know, I think you should just wear what makes you comfortable and not be judged or you are judged. others about it,” Barnett continued. “I’m a pretty open-minded person.”
This includes Recent growth in men underwear category. The actor said he “has to see it first” before he can decide whether to wear it. “But if I saw something and it looked comfortable, you know, and I thought it was beautiful, then yes,” Barnet said.
He’s also open to future fashion collaborations if the fit is right.
“I’m getting my toes wet,” Barnet said. “And I think it’s been great doing that with Pink because it’s been such an easy and fluid and amazing process. So, yes, the answer is yes. If it’s something organic to me; if it’s something I can take back, then sure.”
