I don't want to be one of those mothers but....

Now you know I'm pretty laid-back and liberal when it comes to parenting...

You'll also realise that I take my clothes off in front of people on stage as a burlesque entertainer...

And if you follow my Twitter or Instagram (usually reposted on my tumblr Absobloominglutely for those of you without iphones....hark at me Mrs Social Media ;)) you'll have seen how nutty I went about the fabulousness of Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Mini range appearing in Target last Autumn and how jealous I was of kids under 14 who could fit into them when I couldn't...

Didn't stop me buying a hangbag from the range for myself though:

 

....which I'm sure at some point I'm going to Tempestify, I think she needs a sparkly headband, or possibly sparkly spectacle frames...a Dame Edna makeover. And the strap is a bit boring.

Sorry, I'm off on a tangent again. Where was I? Oh yes...

And I REALLY don't want to be one of those outraged women who go on about scandalously high hems or clothes trying to make kids grow up too fast, but I was in Target yesterday and spotted that Harajuku Mini have had an influx of clothes presumably for their Spring range. It's a sort of nautical theme this time. Lots of lovely stripes and red, white and blues....and then I spotted this range of tops:

 

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Am I over reacting?

I don't like them. The mini bikini tops on the 'mermaids' are as small as pasties. There's tons of bare flesh. Are these meant to be mermaids or are they meant to be little girls dressed as mermaids. If it's the latter I'm even more uneasy. I suppose a plus is the 'girls' depicted in the Harajuku Mini range at least aren't unfeasibly skinny like the Disney princesses. But when I saw Ariel as a 'kid' mermaid I didn't feel as uneasy about her outfit.

Hmmm.

I don't know.

It will be interesting to see if Melchett (9) tries to get me to buy any of the new range. She adored the clothes put out in November and nagged and nagged me to buy her the plaid/tartan dress (which I protested was too much $25/£16 but then surprised her with as for her school choir performance they were asked to wear 'smart dresses' and she'd grown out of anything suitable). There were also tons of girls wearing the scooter and I love nerds tops at school from the 'winter' range. But Melchett is, I'm not sure sure what the right word is....modest? prudish? Put it this way, if she sees anyone kissing (including me and Mr D., characters in Glee or in movies) she'll say a huge "eeeewwww!" (as in it's yukky). She'll give the same reaction seeing any bare body parts on telly. I'm not in the slightest bit convinced she'll be pulling my sleeve trying to buy any of these mermaid tops.

I know some people don't like the whole range because of misappropriation of Asian culture...I'm not totally sure where I stand on all of that. I can totally understand the arguments about Gwen Stefani's use of the Harajuku 4 back-up dancers/bouncers/girls/whatever they were (see also here) and but I'm not totally convinced about not buying things that cuteify (new word I just made up and I'm standing by it) other cultures like the Hello Kitty or Harajuku Mini. As Goth Child is seriously getting into Japanese culture with her obsession with Manga and Anime and has started to try explain kawaii as an aesthetic to me (yes, living with a teenager with a brain is getting more and more interesting) I can see this is something that I probably need to think about more.

What do you think?