What’s in Her Bag? Trauma, Lip Gloss, and One Collector's Item Labubu
In the most unexpected plot twist of the 2025 season, summer’s hottest new bag accessory isn’t a silk scarf, a monogrammed tag, or even a Loewe anthurium keychain. It’s a bug-eyed plush goblin named Labubu (it’ll remind you of the Fendi Monster keychain... but a freakier, younger cousin of it.) And if your purse isn’t accessorized with one of these chaotic creatures by August, you may as well be carrying last season’s Telfar in Westchester.
Picture this: it’s a Saturday morning in Manhattan, and there’s a New York-native girl on the L train holding a Margiela 5AC bag with a plush creature clinging to the handle like a cursed accessory from a Sofia Coppola fever dream. She’s wearing faded Pillow Talk lip liner and last night’s eyeliner like it’s jewelry.
Her Labubu is watching you.
Labubu is part doll, part demon, part deeply emotional art toy that sells out faster than a Supreme drop in 2016. Born from Pop Mart’s cult-collector toy line and designed by artist Kasing Lung, Labubu has long been beloved in niche toy circles. But lately, she’s graduated from dusty display shelves to the crook of Bella Hadid’s arm. Or more specifically, the handle of Hadid’s rare Chanel vanity case.
Our girl on the subway didn’t hand select her Labubu, that would be gauche. She “found her,” obviously. A chance encounter in SoHo with a blind box… her fourth try. It was “magic”(or so she says to justify the $88 damage to her Chase Sapphire). Lana del Rey once said, “Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever.” Clearly, she’s never tried to pull a secret rare Labubu from a blind box. This wasn’t an accessory; it was fate.
Now they’re inseparable. Her Labubu-of-the-day rides shotgun on her Balenciaga Le Cagole like a haunted little sidekick. Together, they walk into B-list rooms and cause A-list minor emotional damage. She once clipped it onto a man’s tote as a joke, but he ghosted her — she says the Labubu was protecting her. It’s not just a collectible, it’s a confidante.
Labubu Archetypes (AKA Emotional Forecasts with Teeth)
Each Labubu she owns is a timestamp of a New York era she once claimed, but now has set free into the past.
- Pastel Fairy Labubu = her coquette phase: sparkles, silk headbands, and unhinged tweets at 2am.
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Skeleton Labubu = her post-breakup spiral: red wine, notes app rants, and Taco Bell crumbs on the duvet.
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Glittery Vampire Labubu = her Fashion Week moment: on the list everywhere that matters, yet still craving that one elusive invite.
You think it’s weird, but you also kind of want one. There’s something iconic about being emotionally dependent on a demonic-looking stuffed toy clipped to a Le Cagole or a City bag.
And deep down, you know you’d trust Labubu with your secrets over your ex (or at least I would.)
Welcome to the Bag Charm Renaissance
Let’s rewind! You might remember the Louis Vuitton panda charms, Fendi’s Bag Bugs, and Hermès Rodeos charms. Bag accessories used to be little luxuries that hinted at personal style. Then, minimalism, the “old money aesthetic,” and stealth wealth wiped them out.
Now, though, fashion’s feeling flirty again. And just like that, the charm is back! This time, it’s weirder, wilder, and with its own cult following.
Labubu isn’t just an accessory. She’s an extension of identity. She’s both camp and capital. She’s proof that you’re “in the know.”
If Lana Del Rey had Labubu in 2014, during the Born to Die era, she would've skipped the Marlboros and cuddled her limited-edition forest demon instead. She wouldn’t have chased the man in the Mustang… she would’ve written a breakup letter on hotel stationery, lit it on fire, and let Labubu ash it out in an ashtray from the Bowery Hotel. No one does sad-girl surrealism quite like Lana, and no one gets sad-girl surrealism quite like Labubu.