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ARTICLE VIEW: | |
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3 min read | |
Look of the Week: Marc Jacobs totes a boxed Labubu | |
By Leah Dolan, CNN | |
Updated: | |
3:40 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
When Marc Jacobs designed The Tote Bag, it seemed like the world nodded | |
and scurried out to buy one overnight. When he launched his junior | |
sub-brand Heaven, the notoriously elusive Gen Z shopper quickly claimed | |
it as the aspirational label du jour. So it’s perhaps fitting that on | |
Monday, before he had even shown his Spring-Summer 2026 collection, | |
Jacobs had another stroke of innovation — this one was box-fresh. | |
On the day of his latest runway, Jacobs was photographed walking into | |
the New York Public Library — where his off-schedule collection would | |
show hours later — carrying a black leather Hermès Birkin bag | |
adorned with a shrimp tempura . Unlike most Labubu enthusiasts, though, | |
who attach the grinning toy to their bags with its built-in carabiner, | |
Jacobs chose to attach the bag charm without removing it from its | |
blister pack, hooking it on as if he were putting it on a retail rack. | |
Jacobs joined the Labubu craze thanks to makeup artist and longtime | |
collaborator, Pat McGrath, who posted a of the designer receiving the | |
gift. | |
“She’s major,” Jacobs said, attaching the box to his bag. “Is | |
this how you do it?” McGrath laughed, replying: “Well, to each his | |
own.” | |
Created by artist Kasing Lung and sold by Chinese toy maker Pop Mart, | |
Labubus were popularized in 2020, though they’ve become a phenomenon | |
in the past year as customers scramble to collect the sought-after | |
limited editions for resale — with one | |
Fastening a Labubu to a designer handbag has become a new favorite | |
habit of the fashion set, who have been wearing theirs to runway shows | |
for a number of seasons. The high-low contrast between a toy and, say, | |
a $4,700 Bottega Veneta Andiamo leather tote bag has become a knowing | |
wink, a 4-inch-tall totem of irony. Even celebrities such as Rihanna, | |
Lisa and — the last of whom is known for her of whatever bag is in | |
the crook of her elbow — have been spotted with the furry monsters in | |
tow. | |
That Jacobs has joined in is no surprise — his own playful, | |
pop-culture influenced designs are a natural fit for the accessory, and | |
their Tote Bags to the cartoonish toys for months. But the choice to | |
wear his Labubu boxed is a touch of camp for the designer, who has been | |
metaphorically unboxing dolls on the runway for multiple seasons. | |
Inspired by the artifice of playthings, Jacobs turned to 1960s paper | |
dolls last February, and this season opened the door to the dollhouse | |
once again with clownish, clomping platform heels that forced his | |
models to walk with a Barbie-like gait. Many models were adorned with | |
huge bows in their hair — stiff and flat as cardboard — with | |
puff-sleeves so large they could double as airbags. | |
Although protective Labubu cases are already creeping onto the market, | |
perhaps Jacobs’ pristine in-the-packet approach will kickstart a new | |
trend — even if the designer was just trying to safeguard his latest | |
investment. After all, Jacobs is a collector at heart. He spent years | |
acquiring original works by John Currin, Andy Warhol, Richard Prince | |
and Ed Ruscha, and, in 2019, he announced that he would be selling most | |
of his fine art via to make space to “start again.” Now, that | |
collection is sure to be filled with the toothy-grinned PopMart bag | |
charms — in their boxes of course — in no time. | |
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