The ‘ugly, weird’ trend Nicky Hambleton-Jones calls a ‘style crime’ even though Gemma Collins & Kim Kardashian love it
Style queen Nicky Hambleton-Jones, former presenter of the Channel 4 show, 10 Years Younger, and author of a new book, Bolder Not Older, tells Natalie Clarke that the celebrity fad for hanging Labubus off designer bags is not only childish, but a style crime…
The latest must-have fashion item among A-listers isn’t a Hermes Birkin handbag, Gucci belt or Cartier watch. No, it’s a tacky little monster that you can buy for 20 quid.
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I’m talking about Labubus. If you haven’t heard of them, prepare to find them on your child’s Christmas wish list.
And when I say child, I mean grown-up child, as it’s adults who are jumping on this weird, juvenile trend.
I’ll say it, I hate Labubus. Of all the bag charms out there, they’ve got to be the worst. I think they are ugly, really, really ugly. And because they’re so ugly they’re noticeable, right?
It’s a fad, of course, feeding the demand for plastic tat.
Like with most trends, celebrities are fuelling it.
The celebrity who seems to have started it all is Lisa, one of the band members from South Korean girl group Blackpink.
She has a Labubu hanging off her Louis Vuitton bag.
She recently wore a Labubu-themed outfit on stage and is so mad on Labubus it’s been said she has become Labubu — whatever that means.
Then we’ve got Rihanna, who has also been seen with Labubus on her Louis Vuitton bag.
Dua Lipa has put grey and pink Labubus on a designer red bag.
Ghastly charms
Lady Gaga had one custom made, a Labubu with a red outfit that matched her outfit from her Abracadabra music video.
She put the Labubu on her black Hermes bag.
Even Cher has been seen out and about with the childish charm hanging off her bag.
Reality TV stars love them too — from Kim Kardashian to Gemma Collins and Olivia Attwood.
Olivia had a Labubu-themed birthday party in May where she bought the dolls for each of her 100 guests.
They’re everywhere — hanging off designer bags which are meant to be discreet and understated, quiet luxury.
Labubus are juvenile and gauche.
Putting these ghastly charms on covetable luxury goes against everything designer labels represent.
My kids find their faces quite scary, it’s not something they want in their bedroom
Natalie
The Labubu is the complete opposite of the aesthetic a designer bag represents.
It kills the luxury element, and some of these celebrities have so many Labubus you can’t even see the handbag due to the visual clutter.
I beg, please take them off!
Labubus are for kids — and if your child is under the age of 18 and asking for one for Christmas, then fair play, I guess.
But children don’t seem to be jumping on this bandwagon as much as adults.
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My kids find their faces quite scary, it’s not something they want in their bedroom.
These things are menacing-looking plushy toys with strange, pointy teeth and rabbit ears.
The character was created by Kasing Lung, a Hong Kong-born illustrator, in 2015.
It was one of a number of characters called The Monsters who featured in his graphic novels.
Labubu is a kind but mischievous elf who lives in a mythical forest.
She is well-meaning but has an unfortunate habit of getting into trouble.
In 2019 the Chinese company Pop Mart began selling Labubu and the other Monsters online, but it was Labubu who, for some reason, grabbed everyone’s attention.
There are lots of versions, sold as a series, such as the Big Into Energy, Coca-Cola and Lazy Yoga series.
Often, you don’t know which Labubu is inside the box when you buy it, so there is an element of surprise.
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And, of course, they have become collectables.
You can pick one up from Pop Mart from around £16, with prices ranging up to about £80 or so, but they sell out quickly and people will resell them for hundreds of pounds.
It’s trendy, it’s the new hot thing. It’s very clever. People go crazy for them.
In May, a fight broke out among customers at Pop Mart’s store at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London, and the retailer removed the toys from all 16 of its shops until June “to prevent any potential safety issues”.
There’s nothing charming about these little gremlins
Natalie
My issue with celebrities wearing them as part of their outfits is that they are doing it to jump on the hype — possibly for social media likes — and they are fuelling this frenzy around cheap plastic tat.
The socialite Paris Hilton was photographed giving Labubus to her children.
Even Paris’s mum Kathy has one! And David Beckham posted a picture of a brown Labubu which his daughter Harper bought him.
Now ordinary people who can’t afford a Birkin are buying a Labubu to get a piece of the celebrity lifestyle — it’s a statement accessory that most people can afford.
But it kills the idea of quality, of good fabric and conscious shopping.
If you can’t get hold of a Labubu, you can easily buy a counterfeit, a Lafufu, for as little as £2.50.
These dupes are almost as popular as the real thing, but can be dangerous for kids, as they might not have been through the same safety checks.
There’s no escaping them. They should be locked up in kids’ bedrooms, not displayed on the bags of grown adults.
The clue is in the name — bag charm.
But there’s nothing charming about these little gremlins.
I give it a year before all these Labubus are filling up landfill sites.
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