www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-082001kitty.story
MacGREGOR, Times Staff Writer Hello Kitty spotted Julius the Monkey first. She liked his style, the way he frolicked on the chests of the young and hip. There have been some rough patches, as there are at the start of any new relationship, and there have been compromises, about the proper role of cat, and monkey. But with a team of professionals standing by, things have worked out. The two will appear in public for the first time in the spring. In an interspecies fashion deal targeting connoisseurs of cute, Sanrio's fashionable feline is hooking up with Paul Frank's snazzy simian to launch a special collection of limited-edition accessory items. The collection will include shoulder bags, CD wallets, a coin purse and T-shirts, with Hello Kitty and Julius the Monkey kickin' it around town. But a preseason peek at the pop-icons at play shows cat and monkey flirting and having a hoot. In another Hello Kitty and Julius are couple-skating, legs thrust out behind them like little Olympians. A T-shirt shows a manly Julius-as-James Dean working on the engine of his pink vintage carwith custom flaming on the sideand Hello Kitty sticking her head out the window. Hello Kitty is the 26-year-old flagship character of Sanrio, the Japanese gift and accessory company. Its president and CEO, Shintaro Tsuji, founded the company in 1960 based on the concept that a small gift can bring a big smile to a child. Sanrio has created hundreds of other characters over the years, including Badtz-Maru, a penguin with attitude, and Pochacco, a sports-minded pup with a weakness for ice cream, but none with the appeal of the kitten. Sanrio wares, which include just about every logo-friendly object under the sun ranging from vacuum cleaners to steering wheel covers, are also available in toy stores and at national chains. Paul Frank, 33, started making wallets and bags for his friends in his Huntington Beach bedroom in the early '90s, and established Paul Frank Industries in Costa Mesa in 1995. His home products, clothing and accessories, which feature Julius, Clancy the giraffe and Ellie the elephant, are sold in specialty stores and in his San Francisco and Newport Beach boutiques. Sanrio executives, who initiated the deal, say Frank's hip designs suit the Sanrio aesthetic. The agreement, they say, is part of an effort to make Hello Kitty appealing to the girl-women of today, who crave little-girl fun and can pay big-woman prices. The co-branding agreement is a first for Hello Kitty, who, at this stage of her life, is looking for something new. Sanrio once worked with Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto. But Hello Kitty has never teamed up with another characterlet alone a monkey. Frank said he was humbled and elated when he got the matchmaking call from Sanrio. This guy who used to make wallets in his bedroom gets to have a character he drew on the same purse as Hello Kitty. His first heavy exposure to the playful puss came in his 20s, when his then-girlfriend used to drag him to a Sanrio store at South Coast Plaza every week. Hello Kitty was one reason he started drawing in the first place. I was always going shopping with her, looking at bags and clothes. Except to say that in the original tennis scene Kitty was acing Julius, which did not go over well with Frank, Takaragawa said. The scene now shows the tennis ball in the foreground, with neither character clearly dominating. In her opinion, Frank is selling out to a mainstream Japanese company. Opinions were similarly divided at the Westside Pavilion. Hello Kitty, she said, is for little kids and Japanese tourists.
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