Children’s “randoseru” backpacks star in Japanese ad campaign with whimsical Victorian vibe

We bet your school backpacks were never this haute CUTEoure.

In Japan, the randoseru is a symbol of childhood. Children carry one of these hardy leather backpacks for all six years of elementary school, and they range from “quite pricey” to “eye-wateringly expensive”, depending on the fanciness of the brand. Japanese “momsters” are a common phenomenon in Japan, and they love to compete with each other over everything from the fanciness of their child’s bento lunch to the brand labels in clothing they’ll outgrow faster than you can say Gucci. Randoseru are just one more accessory that fashion-conscious parents can utilize to do some serious parental peacocking with.

But we can’t deny, these works of backpack art from children’s clothing brand LIRICO have got us wishing we had some ankle-biters of our own, so that we’d have an excuse to buy some of this fancy leatherwork.

The advertising campaign features button-cute Caucasian children (the last word in sophisticated cute among Japanese childrenswear advertisers) in a variety of photo shoots which are beautifully styled and shot in a dreamy Victorian style.

Yes, we remember being tired after coming home from school, too. Luckily all it took was a post-school snack and a few frenzied rounds of Mortal Kombat before we were energized enough for all that delightful homework we had to do.

Our walk home from school was never this picturesque. No, we had to ride the bus which was always a nightmare of ink-flicking and spitballs.

Our school bags were often covered in grass stains, ink and playground dirt, and may even have been used to lightly whack a school chum in a friendly game of bag wars.

If we ever had a bag this nice at school, it would have been confiscated by staff for flaunting the school uniform code and being “too impractical for the rigours of school life.”

These fancy satchels also come in a Country and Western style for your little Cowboy (or girl).

He looks like he’s about to hit up the saloon and start some trouble. In reality, he’s probably thinking about cartoons.

This adorable kid could carry a potato sack and still wind up with his name scrawled in hearts all over the pencil cases of half the student body.

What do you think, should school supplies be durable and practical, or is there nothing wrong with dressing your kid all fancy-like if you’ve got the money for it?

Source and images: Lirico via Jin115.com

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