There are many questions that the image of a small, naked baby doll wearing a macaron for a hat might provoke: who is this baby, why is it wearing angel wings, why is its butt out, what is the point of its hat, and why is it so cute?

It seems that in recent months, many people have asked themselves this question with the rise of the Sonny Angel doll. Sonny Angels are small baby dolls with angel wings, wearing a special hat. They bear a strong resemblance to the baby on the Kewpie mayo bottle. Some come bearing fruit or vegetables (on their heads), while others wear hats that belong to the animal kingdom. As written in a New York Times article from this past April, the Sonny Angel franchise has amassed a considerable following in the last three years. Despite the dolls’ recent surge in popularity, the Sonny Angel franchise has existed since 2005. Created by Japanese designer Toru Soeya, Sonny Angels were created to act as a companion, or “a little boyfriend” to working class women engulfed in the stress of the workplace. Whether the Sonny Angel has served this purpose or not, it seems to have become the mascot for many members of Gen Z.

One of the reasons why I write this article now is because of the recent trend I've seen in Sonny Angels at Spence. On a certain Thursday afternoon last month, when I was leaving the building during my seventh period free, I noticed the Middle Schoolers’ phones in the atrium. They sat in what looked like thermal coolers (much different from the wooden organizers that got locked in the cabinets of the eighth floor). A number of these phones shared a unifying characteristic: a little doll butt attached to the top. I realized quickly that those doll butts were part of the Sonny Angels “Hippers” collection: attachable dolls who hang by a singular hip. Personally, I love the look: it’s a little cheeky, but a funny and cute way to add a bit of individuality to a phone case.

While I love seeing the rise of Sonny Angels, I also feel a strange sense of resentment against all the students who sport them so pridefully. I remember being teased for bringing my Sonny Angel to school in fourth grade, and being called weird if I brought them up in a class. Perhaps as time has gone by, we’ve started to appreciate cute little things a bit more, or maybe it was just that my class was especially home to Sonny Angel-haters. It once again raises the question of why those little dolls have become so popular – is it that for teenagers, they reflct a childlike wonder once lost? Is it the act of collecting them? Is it their actual, miniscule features? Whatever the reasoning for loving those little dolls may be, I personally am partial to their little faces. I’m glad that they’re popular now. It’s nice to think that something I was once labeled weird for is now considered cute – I guess that’s just the way things go.

- Jules Bason '25