Labubu: in the queue of the Rinascente between those who love them and those who earn us, between friendships and classes, grandparents and collectors

“But I don’t understand why these Labubu can please Andrea, says Andrea, an elegant gentleman of about sixty years. And also, whether or not he understands, he is also in line since seven in the morning in front of the Rinascente in Milan to buy his Labubuor rather a set of labubu. Standing, reads the news on the mobile phone as if he passed by chance, and wait patient together with a decidedly discontent and cosmopolitan people of teenagers and boys, some girls and some grandfather.

But who are these people? Why are they getting in a row, arriving in the night to buy a plush to hang on the bag? This is what I wondered by seeing them in line this morning on the road to the editorial staff.

What did I understand stopping to talk to them? That in reality there is not much to understand, Because collecting has existed for well before the Labubu And there is no virtue in collecting stamps and watches, Japanese prints, or very, very “skin” puppets. Maybe the collector’s object tells the times? Perhaps yes, maybe this elderly elf dentuto and colorful, born in 2015 by the artist Kasing Lung, originally from Hong Kong and raised in the Netherlands, It tells well the need for lightness and also of sweetness, the charm for a world of fantasy, the desire for a return to childhood as a place of protection.

This is the era of the “cute” puppetsupported by Asian countries from China to Japan to Korea – where they were launched by among the others by Lisa delle Black Pink and where there are whole supermarkets only with stuffed animals to hang on the bag -. It is the era in which anxiety is held at bay by collecting hairy enerlies, indeed families of enerins. My most precious information is Nikkiewho is in line from six in the morning and positioned himself in the first third of the tail, therefore with excellent chances of buying his set of Labubu before they exhaust today’s sales. He already has about ten Labubu who they do in the photos of his phone even if, he says, “here in rows I do not bring one even, they would steal them … and if they steal them sclero”.

It is she who introduces me to the Cosmogonia of Labubua story in which to enter by buying your “blind boxing” containing a labubu, or directly the set of six (single price for 19.20 euros, price for the 115.20 set). It is the mysterious boxes that have helped to create the charm for the puppets: until you open them you don’t know what colors have happened to you, and if you were lucky enough to find the “Secret Labubu»That appears only every 72 boxes, but this is the system that creates collectible anxiety, a winning marketing strategy that has meant that the revenues of Wang Ningthe entrepreneur of Hong Kong who produced the Labubu and CEO of Pop mart They splashed so high that it briefly made it, at 38 years old, the 68th richest Chinese entrepreneur, and the 280th millionaire worldwide.

In a row for the Labubu

At the basis of Wang Ning’s wealth are there, people in line. There is the girl of about 10 years with blue eyes and braids together with the mother: “They are cute and cuddles, but they are also a little disturbing”. “But why do they have dentons?” I ask you, “no, because sometimes they stare at you.” Then there is Rachela 30 -year -old New York tourist who is ashamed to be in line a bit at his age “but I think they are so cute”. There is Joyce An intra -printed girl of Chinese origin, who works in a high -level second hand shop and who will offer Labubu as a surprise for customers who buy the most beautiful brand bags. Roberta23 years old, he saw them on the bags of oriental tourists who bought in the shop where he was a saleswoman and wants to have it too. In the queue he made friends with Giancarlawho makes the row to surprise his granddaughter: “But he thinks about 71 years old being here,” he says a little discouraged and amazed, sitting on a camping chair that lent them.

A special edition on the bag of a boy of Chinese origin lined up at the Rinascente.

With the “maranza” of the tail

The whole initial part of the tail is made by those who arrived at 2 am, or by the most motivated collectors, or from gangs of fierce teenagers who make the queue to buy and resell. They resell them themselves to stores of various kinds, or are sent to arrembing by retailers. One of them has the most entrepreneurial attitude of the whole band: “I buy them to keep them, in a few years much more will be worth much more – says serious – I also do so for sneakers and more”. The others warn him: “Hey, speak for you”, “don’t say anything to her”. A girl calls this kind of groups “I Maranza”“I am at the beginning of the ranks because they arrive first, but because they fight and before the Security arrives in the morning some slap also flies”. “They come here with the photos of what they want without fail,” says the order of the Pop Mart stand, when I do not know the Labubu. I can on the square and the first who took their box they are already making their offer in the queuefrom 115 we have already arrived 160 € for the set.

When I go out Nikkie is among the next ones to enterand asks me if on sale there is also the “Capobranco”“I was talking about before, with the tail”. I show her the photos I did not know how to answer: “Ah is not, too bad, it usually has good sensations”. She is one of all that she loves most of all these puppets with dreamy dentons and colors: «The cartoons I looked at when I was small and I like their Asian style, for us it was a novelty. They are mystical creatures, they make me a little dreaming ».