I never realized Hello Kitty was created in 1974 and brought to the US in 1976, just one year before I was born, until reading today's LA Times article about Hello Kitty turning 35. Growing up in the 1980s in The OC, I was lucky enough to have a Sanrio store at South Coast Plaza - our fanciest mall - and I adored it. Any time I could persuade my parents to drive me to South Coast to ride the indoor merry-go-round (told you it was fancy), I used whatever allowance I had to purchase packs of highly coveted Hello Kitty gum and gobbled it up, even though the flavor lasted exactly 3.5 seconds. "Cola" was my favorite. I could spend hours in that store, browsing hot pink glittery Hello Kitty pencil boxes (that I proudly displayed on my desk in 3rd grade), erasers that smelled like strawberries, lip gloss, jelly coin purses, notebooks, diaries, watches, candies, and stickers to add to my "sticker books" my friends and I would trade at recess. For a little consumer in the making, it was heaven. CBS helped fuel this obsession with their cartoon TV show "Hello Kitty's Fairy Tale Theater." In case you want a history of Hello Kitty over the years, I found one.
I guess a lot of girls share my fond memories of Kitty because she has become a pop culture phenom, proudly worn in diamond form by Kimora Lee Simmons, adored by Mariah Scary who most likely has several rooms in her house devoted to Hello Kitty (and butterflies, and lingerie, and underwater, and Morocco.. if you've seen her batshit crazy ep of Cribs you know what I'm talking about) and used as a muse by high end fashion designers. She's even got her own theme park in Japan.
I love that even though she's barely changed since 1976, Helly Kitty is still going strong and will be loved by generations to come. My friend's kids are wearing and loving Hello Kitty and if I have a little girl, I might even buy her a pink glitter pencil box at South Coast Plaza after a ride on the merry-go-round. Assuming we're still using pencils in 8 years.
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