ComplexCon Hong Kong: Rebellion’s next chapter

On the closing day of ComplexCon Hong Kong, one panelist cut to the heart of where streetwear stands today. In a session titled “The Evolution and Future of Street Culture,” MSCHF founder Gabriel Whaley said: “Street culture came up as an act of defiance against the status quo. As the years have gone on, what I’ve observed is streetwear became about consumption and profit, and status signaling. Those are very mainstream philosophies, right? So streetwear has become sort of the incumbent. It’s now the mainstream. And now, there is an opportunity for new acts of rebellion to occur.” What will those new acts look like? As the panelists — Jeff Staple, Eric Haze, and Jeff Hamilton, alongside Whaley — wrestled with the question, threading in AI, new forms of e-commerce, and broader questions about creativity and cultural energy, the conversation turned to globalization. The consensus: the East is the next wave, with Chengdu, Jakarta, Mumbai, and Dubai all in the frame. Now in its third Hong Kong edition, ComplexCon is a two-day festival produced by Complex that brings together streetwear, music, art, food, and pop culture under one roof. Launched in Long Beach, California in 2016, the event made its first foray outside North America in Hong Kong in 2024. The 2026 edition ran March 21-22 at AsiaWorld-Expo, drawing brands, artists, collectors, and performers from across the globe. How Labubu took over ComplexCon The convention floor offered plenty of evidence, but this year’s event leaned into arguably the most talked-about cultural phenomenon of the past two years — one made right here in Hong Kong: Labubu. That the dolls have become, through no fault of their own, textbook examples of exactly what Whaley warns against — consumption, profit, status signaling — only adds to their fascination as a case study. Their creator, Kasing Lung, was a natural choice to art-direct the event. Who better to represent ComplexCon Hong Kong than a Hong Kong-born artist whose work has had the world’s youth in a grip since 2024? Beyond Labubu, the convention floor had no shortage of diversions: Year of the Horse fortune-telling at Hong Kong metaphysics platform A Good Future, tarot readings at Rose in Good Faith, indoor snowboarders charging a slope in Bape’s all-weather snow park, pet portraits hand-drawn onto totes by Singapore-based design house Tell Your Children, and custom football jerseys at Adidas. The contrast came courtesy of Murakami’s Ohana Otaku — a tranquil retreat where visitors could kick off their shoes and lounge beneath a sakura tree seemingly lifted straight from one of the artist's illustrations. Those seeking a more cerebral experience found it in panel discussions spanning the globalization of K-pop and the future of streetwear. After the discussions, shopping, and eating came the evening concerts, headlined by Jay Park, Skai IsYourGod, Yeat, and Blackpink’s Jennie, among others. In an unexpected — and widely appreciated — touch, the weekend also featured a meet-and-greet with Hong Kong politician Regina Ip, whose heavily memed online presence has made her an unlikely internet celebrity. ComplexCon Hong Kong 2026 highlights: Kasing Lung’s Monsters and the collaborative worlds they built Art Director Kasing Lung had four collaborative displays in his corner of the festival. There were collectible cards with Hong Kong design house How2Work and custom suitcases with Mayfair-based luxury luggage label Globe-Trotter, while Swiss modular design furniture maker USM has the honor of housing the biggest Labubu of all inside one of its units. Each installation is accompanied by Lung’s original artwork. The Monsters do charity work too, courtesy of Pharrell and Brad Pitt Art director Kasing Lung anchored four collaborative installations in his corner of the festival: collectible cards with Hong Kong design house How2Work, custom suitcases with Mayfair-based luxury luggage label Globe-Trotter, and — the centerpiece — the largest Labubu of all, housed inside a unit by Swiss modular furniture maker USM. Each installation was accompanied by Lung’s original artwork At the center of Kasing Lung’s The Monsters exhibition sat a bespoke cashmere baseball cap bearing the signature monster ears and leering eyes. Displayed in a glass case, the cap is destined for Artists for Impact, a charity auction dedicated exclusively to one-of-one caps each designed by a leading contemporary artist — a joint initiative between Pharrell Williams’ auction platform Joopiter and God’s True Cashmere, the label co-founded by Brad Pitt and jeweller Sat Hari Khalsa. Virgil Archives: A curated selection of Abloh’s most impactful works Titled “Virgil Abloh Archive: ComplexCon Hong Kong,” the exhibition offers a curated selection from the Virgil Abloh Archive — a collection of over 20,000 objects assembled by his estate and spanning his entire creative practice. On view: video installations, design objects from his Ikea collaboration and his own brands Pyrex Vision and Off-White, and works from his tenure as Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton. Installed desktop computers allowed visitors to browse the full archive. Sorayama collaborates with Shenzhen lifestyle tech company Yoose At the heart of the marketplace stands a chrome robot hand approximately 6m tall, courtesy of Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama. Resting in its palm: a shaver by Shenzhen-based lifestyle tech company Yoose, also rendered in chrome — a striking introduction to the full Sorayama x Yoose collection of portable clippers and trimmers on offer. Jewelry: The dark horse Visitors gravitated toward the gothic, unisex offerings at OHT NYC and the clean modern lines at Wooing by Connie Woo. Wooing’s display of customizable, accessibly priced moissanite jewelry — including bespoke pieces worn by K-pop idols Jennie and Jungkook as part of their stage costumes — proved a particular draw. Hong Kong stalwart Chow Sang Sang, founded in 1934, was also present, collaborating with fellow local labels ReEdit and Unspun to spotlight upcycling, in the form of recycled gold charms and custom keychains made from recycled plastic. K-pop favorite Chinese jeweler Fomulo teamed with Los Angeles-based artist J. Harris on a whimsical collection bridging contemporary design and tactile art.

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ComplexCon Hong Kong: Rebellion’s next chapter