Long before there was a Labubu dangling from every vintage Balenciaga City Bag, people in the Neolithic era were accessorising with bone, shell and wood. While designer bags and eclectic trinkets may have become the battleground for fashion’s authenticity in 2024, the trinket itself has served as a status symbol for centuries. Jane Birkin, known for personalising her namesake Hermès handbag in the 80s, is often credited as the mother of the bag charm. But, in ancient Egypt, charms were symbols of protection and good fortune; in the Roman Empire, they became expressions of individuality; and even Queen Victoria herself was fond of golden locket charms in the Victorian era. Humans’ obsession with shiny trinkets runs deep – could 2025 be considered a new peak?

The trinket has historically served as either a marker of wealth or of affiliation. For example, early Christians in the Roman Empire, in particular, wore fish charms to identify each other, while gay men in the 1970s used hankerchiefs to signal their sexual preferences (in what was known as the ‘hanky code’). Today, Miu Miu’s $1,490 micro-bag charms and Loewe’s $550 fluffy corgi charms are an obvious indicator of disposable income. The flash flood of obsession over Sonny Angel keychains and, currently, Labubus are more of a scramble to affiliate with the act of personalisation itself. In 2024, Pop Mart’s total revenue more than doubled, primarily driven by the popularity of Labubu, which skyrocketed over 1,200 per cent. Last month, a human-sized Labubu doll sold for a whopping $150k. When the hype eventually levels out, Sarah Jane Dhall, founder of Cultique, says we can expect a new (or old but rediscovered) trinket to take its place. “Culture never sleeps,” she says. Pop Mart itself is already diversifying into jewellery.

The purpose of this article is not to serve as a Labubu think piece – there have been enough of those, and people deserve to participate in fun trends together. When zooming out at the trinket trend itself, however, it’s clear what started as a yearning for self-expression and individuality through accessorising has become a revolving door of almost monopolised trending trinkets. Trend forecaster Agustina Panzoni says she’s been seeing the personalisation trend cannibalise. “If everyone is personalising with the same trinket, now we’re all looking the same,” she says. “But Labubu is taking it further by allowing you to personalise your Labubu with fashion items from Etsy or bootleg designer clothes.” Some people are even tattooing the faces of their Labubu.

Where people like Birkin used to collect trinkets over time as mementoes of a life well-lived, people are now participating in an instant version of personalisation. Instead of taking time to discover what you like and don’t like, there are algorithms to feed that to you. There’s also a certain level of personalisation inception going on, as our trinkets take on a life of their own. Panzoni thinks that baby schema, infantile physical features such as the large head, round face and big eyes, may be putting us in caretaker mode over our Labubus themselves. As nurturers of our own keycharm babies, trinkets then serve not as a unifying point (or, at the very least, a conversation starter). “There’s a huge community element to it that may be driving the fact that we end up choosing specific trinkets because, at the end of the day, there’s a communal element to everyone being into the same thing,” says Panzoni.

There’s a huge community element to it that may be what’s driving the fact that we end up choosing specific trinkets because, at the end of the day, there’s a communal element to everyone being into the same thing.

Most toy trinkets are somewhat affordable, and that’s at least part of the appeal. “Instead of buying new items, people are just buying something to accessorise their more ‘basic clothes’,” says Panzoni. It’s something Dhall says makes luxury trends more accessible the the masses. “We’re in a very performative culture: personalisation accessories allow for a range of self-expression, within an established norm,” she says. “Though Labubu itself is intrinsically not that expensive, the product is often shown attached to luxury lifestyles and products – seen on an expensive handbag, or attached to a celebrity.” With Lizzo directly referencing Labubus in one of her songs, Yitty on yo Tittys, and Megan Thee Stallion unwrapping a Labubu gift while sitting on Klay Thompson’s lap on TikTok, having the same trinket as your favourite celebrity may be one way to feel further a part of their world.

There’s another factor of both Sonny Angels’ and Labubu’s rocketing popularity that’s impossible to ignore: blind boxes. This is something that’s always been popular in the toy world to some degree, with blind boxes mildly mimicking gambling mechanics. “When I was a kid, we had Cabbage Patch Kids, Pogs and Beanie Babies – coveted toys are not a new trend,” says Dhall. What’s new, however, is how this translates into the adult fashion world. It’s something Dhall refers to as the rise of “kidulting”, and she’s been tracking it ever since adult colouring books landed on the scene. “Kidulting keeps growing in economic impact, a testament to the power of nostalgia and a desire to be unserious in a very serious world,” says Dhall. 

In April, when Lorde summoned fans to an impromptu performance in Washington Square Park, she had multiple trinkets hanging from the chain belt. Some fans searched for deeper meanings within the charms – was the little fish-shaped pen or silvery shell a clue for her Virgin album release? As it turns out, they were just whimsical trinkets. But our search to find meaning (or an escape) within the trinket trend continues, even if we’re all carrying the same viral one and 100 per cent sure exactly what we’re connecting over. “I think that level of personalisation might continue where people are using different trinkets to signal being a part of a community,” says Panzoni. In many ways, it’s similar to during the Roman Empire, except the religious association is instead a TikTok association. Also, our hypnotic children with big eyes, the Labubus, may be becoming more personalised than we are.