A new trend is standing out with increasing frequency in China these days, and it’s literally sticking straight up off the top of peoples’ heads, according to the New York Times. This is the fast-growing trend of accessorizing with a, plastic green sprout (or two, or three) clipped vertically atop the wearer’s head.
New York Times’ Chris Buckley wrote earlier this month that in Beijing and across much of urban China, “people are sporting plastic decorations on their heads in the shape of vegetables, fruit and flowers.”
He added the sprouts seem to offer a kind of mute protest against the grey, stressed environment of the city. Alanna Norwood, senior in biology from California said, “I guess if I was living there and the city was boring I would try and stand out, too. It just seems kind of weird to me. Cute though.“
Norwood also mentioned the possibility of the fashion statement coming to Hawaii. She stated, “I think we follow China’s trends. Remember when everyone used to put feathers in their hair? I guess that’s kind of like this.”
“That is adorable. I want one right now,” said Carolyn Cooke, sophomore in social work from Maryland. She said,“I think it’s making people happier. Little things like that have a bigger impact than we might realize. It’s cute and it’s simple. There are so many words around us all the time, the media’s always trying to form words the right way to persuade us of different messages, but it’s refreshing that the sprout trend isn’t a word, it’s a symbol.”
Buckley pointed out that while the headwear seems to be backed by a variety of positive thoughts, there are thousands of hawkers online and on the streets who “are engaged in an arms race of selling increasingly elaborate floral displays for increasingly low prices.”
Buckley indicates the trend, which took off as soon as famous Taiwanese singer Jay Chou and his wife clipped the greenery to their heads, may wilt as quickly as it has sprouted.
Still, Shugi Ganbaatar, sophomore in business from Mongolia, is all for giving the movement its props. Ganbaatar said, “I actually grew up in the big city (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital), so there aren’t many flowers or plants to see around. Even if it’s fake, a beautiful plant can make you happy. I would say the main reason it makes you happy is that it’s a symbol of the creations of God.”
She also mentioned, “When I go to work at the PCC, if I don’t have the flower behind my ear, it feels like I’m missing something.”
Be it a call for more natural beauty, an eco-friendly cause, or a simple yet bold expression of fashion, Buckley reports Chinese heads now abound with clover, sunflowers chrysanthemums, lavender, mushrooms, chilies, cherries, gourds, and pine trees. For Cooke, the wordless fad is a “symbol of growing, being human, and existing together.”