Hello Kitty has been around for 35 years. Many of us are not aware of how far it has come since Ikuko Shimizu, the creator of Hello Kitty first invented a simple vinyl coin purse design for his Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty kept her youth over these years, but her fashion design evolved and matured.
Hello Kitty became popular in the mid 80s when its influence traveled outside the nation of Japan and landed on the United States. Her style was modified later into a more mature version so it would appeal to the older audience. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Hello Kitty's success simply swept through the US. Many A-list celebrities were endorsed to promote the Hello Kitty brand by dressing up with Hello Kitty accessories.
35 years of Hello Kitty design history is now summarized into a video below. Check it out and see if you remember seeing any of these:
Image via Flickr: love-janine