TOKYO: The flamboyant designer behind Hello Kitty — the cute Japanese character that became a global mega brand — is stepping down after more than four decades in charge of her look.
Yuko Yamaguchi has been responsible since 1980 for the design of Kitty, who is officially not a cat but a little girl from London, overseeing her rise to the epitome of Japan’s “kawaii” — cute — soft power.
But now Yamaguchi, who often wore Kitty-style dresses in public and piled her hair in buns — has “passed the baton to the next generation”, Sanrio, the company behind the character, said on its website Tuesday.