Caveat: I do not like Labubus. I don't care that the furry monster bag charm has become this year's bona fide Birkin, nor that they're beloved by stylish celebs like Rihanna and Blackpink's Lisa. You can't make me carry one.
But the fact that these devilish dolls have sparked up to 6.34 billion impressions, according to social media listening platform Sprout Social, has got me pondering the power of the controversial or “ugly” accessory. Why are they so appealing, and why do some people see it as a “safe” place to live out their fashion fantasies?
The toy that stole all the fashion girls' hearts.
Granted, what is considered “ugly” is incredibly subjective. One man's trash is another's treasure etc. But for the sake of this argument, we'll define an “ugly” fashion item as one that might not be considered conventionally attractive, but is adopted and worn with intention.
Fashion has always had an obsession with the “ugly.” Be it Martin Margiela and his “hair coat”, or Christopher Kane and his use of garish hues, fashion has long lauded those able to turn the perverse into posh and the lurid into luxury (granted not without some initial backlash). Jonathan Anderson might be the reigning king of this trend today. Remember the JW Anderson pigeon clutch, which made a cameo on Carrie Bradshaw's arm in And Just Like That and the JW Anderson x Wellipets collab featuring googly-eyed frog slides? Let's just say “pretty” is not the first word that comes to mind.
Speaking of shoes, the ugly shoe trend—which arguably began in 2018 with Louis Vuitton's Archlight trainers—is usually where the internet's battle is fought. Chanel dad sandals, fisherman sandals, jelly shoes, and now extreme toe shoes like Balenciaga's Zero Trainers…every year a new “ugly” shoe is minted, sparking conversation, controversy, but ultimately also commercial gains for these brands.
It's every fashion girlie's best kept secret.
There's a cynical side to me that sees the embrace of these provocative items as another way for the wealthy to flex the depth of their wallets. Most of these headline-grabbing pieces, from the pigeon bag to Kylie Jenner's Hermès Kelly Picto Doll bag, all come with eye-watering price tags. Because of its “blind box” model (meaning you don't know which one you'd get when you buy a Labubu doll), to get a rare or coveted figurine could cost you hundreds of pounds. Just last month the most expensive Labubu doll sold for £110,465 at an auction in Beijing. It's mostly the influential and wealthy toting them around, because they can afford to drop casual cash on these “ugly” luxuries that ultimately will never be your everyday fashion staples. Kylie Jenner's Hermès Kelly Picto Doll bag, after all, is just one of dozens of Hermès bags she owns.
But even a cynic like me has to admit, there's something appealing about bucking traditional standards of beauty and dabbling in what some might consider weird. The “cool" people we celebrate, like Billie Eilish or Lady Gaga, have moulded their entire identities around it, encouraging their followers to lean into the very things that make them different. There is refuge to be found in nonconformity. You can't say they're out of fashion or untrendy because they weren't trying to be in the first place. Of course, the irony is, however outré these outliers start out, they always end up becoming mainstream, but the fact that these “ugly” fashion accessories are being embraced by the masses tells me maybe we need more “safe” spaces in fashion to let our freak flag fly. Labubus may not be for me, but I'd like to think that they're holding space for all the other weird, whimsical things I might one day add to my wardrobe, whatever they may be.
