Trends + Kawaii

NO! CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT ALL!!! Just remembered that as I was rushing off to HR class, I passed by a girl wearing a headband with a little bow. Now my mind won't stop thinking about how trends spread. And what gets them going. And where they spread to first.

When I was in Japan last summer, I bought a bunch of bow-style headbands because I was particularly fascinated by Sweet Lolita and Hime styles. I wore them all the time after I came back, but only a couple of weeks ago did I start to hear about them. Starting in January, I have been getting lots compliments on my headbands, and I have also noticed more girls around campus and the shops on M Street wearing them.

What happened? What made headbands with bows suddenly cool? Yeah, yeah, you can tell me to go off and read Gladwell’s Tipping Point, but that doesn’t explain everything.

Did someone famous start wearing them? Did a key group of girls start wearing them? Or is our culture getting more cutesy? Perhaps America is really warming up to Japanese kawaii aesthetics. After all, MAC has launched its new Hello Kitty campaign (and the most disturbing video of all time FYI… see it at the end of this post).

Also, is this just an isolated thing? I wonder where else girls are starting to wear headbands with bows- and where are people already tired of the trend? With media being the instantaneous, all-encompassing thing it is, trends can spread so quickly. Does this mean that we’re seeing things catch on more quickly and uniformly across the country? Or do people focus more on reference groups that they see in person?

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! CHAPTER 7!!! I WILL FOCUS ON CHAPTER 7!!!!!!!! HUMAN RESOURCES. APPRAISING AND MANAGING PERFORMANCE. Yes. Yes.