Attached to Trinkets
Toys in fashion, attached to your favourite bag or pair of jeans, are to be seen everywhere - and their emotional impact upon our identity seems to be widening with each day.
A personal touch, keyrings which speak volumes. Photo available via @centralcee on Instagram. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Trinkets. From Sonny Angel figurines to the newly culturally adored The Monsters - Labubu, collectable toys are hard to have missed if you have a keen eye for fashion and cultural trends. They are attached to our bags and our identities, even to belt loops and the laces on our favourite pairs of jeans and shoes.
Whether fortunate enough to add your collection onto your mini Hermès Kelly, or religiously adding some sentimentality, like me, to your thrifted $5 shoulder bag, they seem to have the perfect artistic touch to elevate an outfit, vibe and style. Looking at it from an outside standpoint - as we thread the keychains onto clothing, the question is posed as to internally, are trinkets just a trend?
A case of identity
It's apparent that the trinkets we are choosing to take the spotlight on our most esteemed bags hold a meaning. Whether influenced by emotional factors or trends, most keyrings are personal and lasting. From many angles, it's as if we are choosing trinkets to express our deeper identity. For example, if you add one of your favourite childhood characters, such as Miffy, to your bag, it can feel like you are holding something that is cherished by your younger self with you at all times; a fragment of your identity to be shown off as you walk down the street or go for a coffee with friends.
This form of trinket, one that embraces your past in the present moment, highlights an angle which trinkets can be tied to our identity. It's almost like a stylized snippet of prominent self-expression. Where we have seen fashion used to widely express our identity before in clothing choices, colours or favourite designers - trinkets become a much more downsized way to express yourself but with just as much impact, which may be why we are obsessing over them so much. Trinkets cling to our identity in a wide variety of ways; you could wear a handmade piece which one of your closest friends made for you, perhaps a crocheted or knitted keyring, enabling you to carry around a bundle of love wherever you go, something that makes your inward personality shine through the lens of an accessory. The population of a personal keychain highlights the emotional connection we can transfer through the way we dress, but amongst this sentimental wave, factoring in the trending element of this style is intriguing as to equating whether it will last.
Choosing a toy such as a Jellycat or Sonny Angel, it's likely that the trinket was cute enough to make your heart burst, or resonated with your identity when you saw it on the shelf: holding the potential to add an unrivaled elevation of style, which spoke to your soul’s artistic expression. This seems like the most Pinterest-fitting, TikTok-fied choice, picking a sell-out, blind bag toy to add to your collection. This could be due to cuteness - or our society's fixation on dopamine and the mysterious task of unboxing a colourful toy. Maybe we are reminded of the bright days of our childhoods, and the nostalgia that can be captivated by our possessions, bringing the conversation back to elements of our identity. We like little glimpses into our past lives and crossing this over with our present realities, the ability to openly express this with our fashion choices.
Whatever sits on the front of your bag, each one screams individuality and personal homage which is relevant to one’s unique and special fashion journey. We can see this pattern in other areas such as touristic trinkets, maybe as you walked the streets of Paris you stopped off at a stall selling miniature Eiffel Towers in keychain form. This then takes a place on the front of your bag, something that may just look like an accessory to one person, but really it resembles one of the greatest trips of your life, which shaped who you are today, and as you carry that bag you are crediting your identity through the multiple trinkets displayed, each with their own emotive story.
Trendy trinkets
Whilst these trending trinkets such as Labubu, Sonny Angel, Jellycat and Sylvanian Families add this cutesy, fresh and on-trend vibe; a miniature staple piece to signify style and taste, does this TikTok-originating popularity signify trinkets as just a trend? It could be said that their rise to fame seems to hold little emotional resonance, yet multiple viral videos and pictures containing the popular toys with many celebrities hopping on the trend. As consumers, we see the upheaval of this trend, and it is only natural to ponder what influence this could have on our lives if we were to partake in it. Maybe you would become more stylish, look more expensive or simply feel like you fit in more with culture.
Most things which blow up on TikTok and other platforms are soon to be replaced by the next best thing. Trend cycles are unpredictable, but when a product is an instant sellout, it's likely that this won't last forever as culture shifts and trends move on, demand will fall and people will soon forget, looking for their next purchase. We hop on trends which are cute and appealing, but just like the instant gratification you get from scrolling on TikTok, joining trend cycles impacts you in this way as well. Of course, a keyring is something that will never go out of date, the sentimentality and convenience of a cute keychain has been in style since forever, but it is probable that the craze of toys such as Sonny Angels and Labubu are something that will shortly be forgotten about in today's society, just like how trends like loom bands and fidget spinners did back in the day. They are exciting and fresh for a while, but like the moon they will wane over time. Once something better, cuter and cooler comes along it's game-over. This does not mean that you should opt out from buying the toy trinkets, however, they still remain adorable, and if they speak to your accessorization in a personal way there is no harm. Only when it's consumerism for the sake of fitting in and hopping on a trend does it become problematic.
As well as adding sentimental keychain objects and popular toys to bags, the essence of adding your favourite lip product or hand product, from Laneige to Vaseline to Rhode, seems to be one which holds popularity. Adding some high-end makeup glamour elevates your style approach even further. Perhaps the convenient addition of beauty and self-care products contributes to the viral ‘clean girl’ vibe, or simply just makes your bag a hub for style and convenience all at the same time. Products such as Rhode and Laneige have a lot of popularity right now due to fixations on these types of aesthetics, as well as the relevance of the celebrities behind the product, but the same as toys, trending products will shortly be replaced by the next best thing, so best be careful and choose a product which really fits for you and your bag, not just for a trending purpose.
There are many elements which are adding to the rise of this cultural fascination and could be suggested to be responsible, such as the rise of toys in current affairs, with movies such as Greta Gerwig's phenomenal take on Barbie in 2023, or fashion runways which incorporate toys - think Coach Fall/Winter 2025 runway show, which featured fluffy bunny slippers and bag charms, or their famed cherry prints and keychains. These wider influences from labels and creative names contribute to the widespread of the trinket trend. Further sweet artistic prints like the latest Mukurami x Louis Vuitton collaboration further prove this bright childlike style as important, we can observe its popularity and effect from someone's small bag on the street, to a large billboard in the centre of a city.
Maybe hopping on to the latest trends, filtered through our For You page and favourite popular figures’ lifestyle, relates to our emotional state too. A desire - to fit in, to feel cool, an aspiration to join a certain movement. In this way, despite the fact that trinkets are trending, the ownership of one of the popular toys still appears to have an emotive backstory. It makes us feel happy, it gives us that shopping-induced dopamine. It makes us excited to see this charm of trend and popularity. It just fits in. It glamorises, it speaks for us and our identity. We can use trends as an outlet to locate our desires and our interests, and maybe these trends are just as relevant to our identities as a sentimental trinket with a backstory may be. Their cultural relevance and the excitement to be carried with that is indeed, emotive. Perhaps what's trending has just as much of a meaning - and that's why they have become so popular, with so many of us sharing the same adoring vision.
Gathering that what we display on our clothes and bags in trinket form is influenced by trends, it's clear that it is also from the raw emotion we felt at the time. Whether relevant to our background or our travels abroad, or simply just a trending toy, what trinkets we are attaching have an impact. Despite how feelings of nostalgia and personal history differ from contemporary viral products, we are collectively feeling something through this expression, and maybe that is what matters. Whether an expressive fixation that endures or a fleeting moment in fashion history, the emotional resonance behind these tiny trinkets ensures they’ll never truly go out of style - for at one point in our lives the little figurines and characters meant something. Although they may not always be welcomed with a seat on our bags forever, they will sure remain in the hearts of those partaking in fashion, for a long time to come.
