kawaii desu ka?

i was at nordie’s the other day and i visited their purse section (of course). i’ve been thinking of getting another teacher tote, not because i don’t “heart” my marc by marc jacobs tote in bourdeux anymore. actually, i LOVE that tote too much! it’s become a great mall bag, roomy enough to store all my shitz AND a cardigan when i feel a little chilly whilst shopping. because of its newfound convenience, i decided to keep it at home rather than abuse it as a teacher tote. that meant i had to find a teacher tote replacement. well, while walking about nordie’s, i saw a few of their reduced bags on their sales table. amongst all those not so cute sale bags were a few harajuku lovers totes on sale, too. i paused.

as a fashion icon and musician, i like gwen stefani. i think she has good style and i like her songs when she was in no doubt as well as when she embarked on her solo singing projects…as a designer though…not so much. i REALLY dislike her harajuku lovers line because i think there’s something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with her whoring another culture as a white person (we need not get into a convo about racial dynamics and exploitation here)…and have you seen those japanese dancers that she has dressed up in interesting costumes that follows her around to all her press moments? THEY DON’T TALK! these japanese women are literally gwen stefani’s backdrop. i have issues with that too….

with all that being said, i ended up buying a harajuku lovers tote anyways! hypocrite or what right? i found this cuteish tote in brown and tan. i liked the fact that it has the letter “H” as oppose to “harajuku lovers” graffitied all over it (i would have preferred no lettering at all especially from this brand). if you don’t know the brand, the letter “H” can be mistaken to stand for many things such as:

“H”ope
“H”appiness
“H”amburger (hahahahaha)
oh, and “H”ahahahaha

the tote has these four leaf clover shapes on it which is lucky and cute AND best of all, it’s made of canvas and was relatively cheap for what it is. it serves a purpose and i didn’t care to go on a tote hunt anymore. i don’t mind dragging this sucker around school or flinging it on our dirty school carpet. it is still a step above the apple and rainbow teacher tote that i rocked from yesteryear…and i must admit, it’s “not ugly.”

(note: kawaii desu ka? means “it’s cute?” in japanese)