A Chinese-American label with a thing for obscure pop-culture references, Babyghost caters to a young, enthusiastic fan base that increasingly finds its wares irresistible. At the top of the referential food chain for Spring (they’ve adopted the see-now-buy-now method, so Fall will have to wait until Fall) sits the Winter Olympics, which begins shortly in nearby South Korea, hence the Corinthian-column print and hand-painted five-ring motif. But elsewhere, allusions to the latest Alien movie, one of few Western releases to reach Chinese audiences, cropped up too, as did New York artist Andres Serrano’s controversial ’80s photographs. The idea is to stoke a sense of intensity, but with safe, smoothed edges.
As designers Qiaoran Huang and Joshua Robert Hupper explained during a walk-through presented on models who included friend of the label and Insta-girl-of-the-moment Xiao Wen Ju, Babyghost does not aspire to high-rolling luxury status. Rather, they make accessible pieces that speak to discerning millennials. Spring appears to be the label’s most developed collection to date, an effervescent nod to team spirit—think lightweight nylon and silk jackets, loose track pants, and boxing shorts—in a bubbly Champagne palette. One oversize off-white jacket with raw edges was “just dirty enough,” said Hupper, while another jacket had a shirt stitched right into it. A sideways graffiti logo hinted at Stussy’s now-classic original, while printed silk linings and chiffon scarves are another way Babyghost can communicate directly with customers, like a “secret language,” said Huang.
Through this combination of quirk and charm, Babyghost is carving out a covetable niche, mostly online and mostly in China, where business is apparently booming—if a move into a sprawling new showroom in Shanghai is any indication. Their branding efforts and special projects, too, are not the things one might expect. For instance, they staged a Christmas-theme event in a Shanghai mega-mall and produced splashy videos for Tmall, a trendy division of e-tail powerhouse Alibaba. The rise of the Chinese middle class is calling out for homegrown labels to embrace; Babyghost seems well-positioned to fit the bill.
