First Glance: King Baby, Xidan Joy City

Over in Xidan’s Joy City tucked a bit further in from the see-through Apple box, a dark chocolate brown studded box has taken shape on the first floor with King Baby furnished in bronzed arrow lettering. Some of you might have seen this brand over in Taikoo Li’s southern area with the words ‘coming soon’ printed on white tarpaulin, so you might be just as surprised as I was to find out they’ve been in Beijing almost a month already, and are taking the jewelry world by its horns.

It’s a wild ride from entrance to exit once you cross the threshold of the sterilized mall and enter a world of leather wraps, precious and semi-precious stones, fossilized mammoth bone, and beaten die-cast sterling metals all screaming Americanized ideals of cowboy (or cowgirl) nostalgia as well as a heavy theme of biker bravado. Everything is loud and shiny, though that might be due to the stores intense lighting and exhibition-like glass casings taking up almost all of the floor space. At the back end of the wall a large skull beams its harrowing smile down on you, sneering and daring you to try and outlast these timeless, but quite over the top, fashion pieces. A black and chrome beast of a motorcycle is aimed at the door for those who wish to unleash their inner bat out of hell image to its full extent (or at least imagine it in exquisite detail).

Founded in 2000, the brand name is taken from Sigmund Freud’s concept of a mental condition whereby a person thinks the world revolves solely around them. It’s quite the egotistic name and is certainly reflected in the jewelry motifs and prices. You won’t find a ring for less than RMB 1,590 and you will be looking to invest a solid five figures for a carved skull/snake/various shaped pendant necklace, though some of the sterling metals will settle in the high four figure range (RMB 7,000 and up is a good estimate). If you’ve ever wanted to trade in your dull work attire for the hellfire rock & roll lifestyle of Western slingin’ and 70s drippin’ America, draping yourself in the grungy aesthetics of death and glory is one way to go about it.

King Baby
Daily 10am-10pm. Unit 26, 1F, Xidan Joy City, 131 Xidan Beidajie, Xicheng District
西单北大街131号西单大悦城1号搂26号单元

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Photos: Erin Strong, kingbabystudio