From kawaii plushies to pacifier chains, tiny backpacks to plastic hair clips and ruffle socks, babycore is sweeping the underground music scene in a big way. Providing comfort and youthful nostalgia, everyone was once a baby and therefore can relate to this playful trend. It’s a return to simpler times with less responsibilities and day to day struggles. In the same way that normcore stresses the normal, babycore stresses childishness.
photo credit: NYC Princess
While babycore mostly encompasses styles that reflect the lifestyle of children under the age of two, the term “kidcore” addresses older children. The term “toycore” applies to the stuffed animals and toys that are now being carried around by grown ups. Hello Kitty and Sanrio products, the Louis Vuitton leather teddy bear and a black bondage bear backpack sold by Dollskill are all prime examples of the toy influence.
Multiple other trends also play into babycore. The all pink pastel and all blue pastel trend are both derivative of classic newborn baby shower colors while brightly colored garments from Gymboree and Oshkosh of the 90’s play into the primary color trend. Variations on the schoolboy look have been popping up for years in art schools, New York, and other creative hubs. Usually it incorporates some or all of the following: light or normal wash high-waisted flood jeans; Keds; dad caps that are devoid of any sports team, brand, or university logos; a colorful windbreaker; and a backpack often in primary colors
photo credit: Ronald Stoops
From Thom Browne’s short suits to Jeremy Scott’s FW15 collection featuring a parade of models dressed like psychedelic baby dolls, babycore has been present in recent luxury fashion since around 2014. Walter Van Beirendonck’s SS16 collection featured luxury menswear suits with playful nursery style illustrated childrens patterns. Hood By Air’s SS16 runway collection styled with decadent custom grills and face tattoos juxtaposed with cute babycore plastic hairclips and pigtails. Iced out pacifiers and braces adorned the otherwise chiseled models casted by Walter Pearce. JW Anderson’s SS17 collection featured colorful illustrated lego and puzzle print garments as well as childrens crayon style artwork and jumpsuits that resembled onesies.
photo credit: Getty Images
What makes the babycore trend different is that it seems to be devoid of any Lolita vibes or sexuality altogether. In this sense, it runs parallel to the recent surge in androgynous, unisex fashion. Whether people are adopting this trend as a reaction against hyper-sexuality in fashion and pop culture or as nostalgia not for the ’90s, babycore is a fun and lighthearted trend that can be worn by almost anyone.
From Cam’ron’s iconic furry pastel pink look to Pharell Williams wearing distressed striped chambray Oshkosh overalls on MTV, babycore has been present within the hip hop scene since the 90’s. Only since 2015 have we been seeing a resurgence in the trend. “Baby” has always been used as slang, but there are a ton of artists within the underground who have the word in their name; Bbymutha, Bbsun, Bali Baby, Big Baby Scumbag, Babyglock, etc. As of late, many rappers have taken to describing themselves as princesses.
photo credit: @smrtdeath
Smrtdeath, Lil Peep, Lil Tracy and many other musicians have embraced the babycore trend by wearing tiny backpacks with licensed characters such as Hello Kitty or Disney’s Frozen meant for preschoolers. While the tiny backpack trend somewhat alludes to backpack rap, these lighthearted and cute bags give off more of a femme vibe. Milan-based luxury gothic streetwear brand, W.I.A. Collections, is another brand worn by a lot of underground musicians that has embraced the babycore trend. They were an early adopter of the pastel pink and blue trend and often feature imagery with goth babes hanging out in piles of plushies.
As a subset of the toycore part of the trend, rappers have been modifying Bratz and Monster High dolls to have colored hair, custom outfits and face tattoos. Canadian rapper, Spicegirlpurp, has a song that goes super hard called “Bratz”. Chicago based cyber artist, Dedgrl6, has a long running project where she draws important figures in the underground as doll-like characters that look like a bit like Diva Starz. Recently, her illustrated album artwork for emo supergroup, Boyfriendz, which features doll versions of Lil Aaron, Lotus, Smrtdeath and has informed a lot of imagery within the post-Myspace scene.
photo credit: @rozzdyliams
Earlier this week Seattle based musician, Rozz Dyliams, dropped a rad new piece of merch featuring a white sweatshirt with a baby doll version of himself with his signature face tattoos. Spacegirl Gemmy has been posting super kawaii looks where she wears 20+ childrens plastic clips at the same time. It’s an intentionally carefree, fun and functional look. Another hairstyle that falls under the babycore genre is the wave of teenage and twenty year old girls wearing their hair in double buns.
Perhaps international artist Candy Ken is the quintessential underground music representative of babycore. For the most part he wears all pastel pink and blue, reps Hello Kitty harder than anyone else in the game, even putting kawaii stickers all over his face. This soft, childish and somewhat little girl type aesthetic works really well for him creating an interesting juxtaposition of styles as his body is very muscular, tan and well-kept. With an encouraging message to never grow up and be a child forever, babycore encouranges a Peter Pan type lifestyle and is so deeply rooted in multiple trends that it’s bound to stick around for a while.