In my travels far and wide across the vast internets, sometimes I come upon a picture that just begs to be exposed to the widest audience possible. 

This one, for example:

You are looking at an actual product, invented by a couple of bright young boys in secondary school.  This is the prototype which they are looking to patent and sell to “any company willing to produce it.” 

Ah, the eternal optimism of youth.  Why can’t we bottle it up and sell that?  I would buy some.  And you would just have to wait your turn, because I would totally be the first one in line.  Even if I had to cheat and pull the old “look over there!” trick, because the jaded Glinda could use a litle optimism.  Don’t tell me you wouldn’t fall for it.  You know you would. 

Any guesses as to it’s actual purpose?

Sometimes I wonder, how are other countries dressing their kids?  I decided to check out Japan, because the Japanese are no slouches in the fashion department.  After a few minutes hours of research, I found the Narumiya Company, a popular high-quality clothing manufacturer in Japan that produces a couple of European-inspired clothing lines. Upon first glance, I fell in love with them.

I mean, how could I not?

The designs are so cute, I want to have a daughter, like right now, so that I can buy these for her.  The above are from their Pom Ponette line for toddlers.

But then I went to a different portion of the website, and found these from another one of their lines, Mezzo Piano.

I adore these looks, they are a bit over the top, but I love them just the same. I mean, it’s a photo-shoot, right?  Things are allowed to look a little different in a photo-shoot.

Now we are getting into really artsy territory with the hat o’flowers, but look at that ribbon! I can ignore the headdress because of that brown ribbon.

Erm, I’m starting to get a little uncomfortable here. I keep reminding myself, photo-shoot, things are allowed to be, uh, different.  She’s depressed about her grades or something, that’s all!

This photo is definitely not ichiban in any way.

But do you see the embroidery on the skirt of the blue dress? I’m almost willing to forgive the fact that the two models look like the black-sheep cousins of Alice in Wonderland, ready to smack her around a little if she doesn’t meet their demands to give up some of that mushroom stash. 

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, these clothes are not available here in the US and have limited distribution in Europe.  At an average of 12,000 yen, these clothes are a bargain.  That’s about 100 US dollars, and listen, I thought of the idea to get on a plane and buy them and bring them back here already.  My finder’s fee is about ten percent if you beat me to it.

But I’m just not sure I can get past those Lolita-inspired pictures.  What do you think, are those exploitative or are you willing to look past the advertising because the clothes are so fab?