Paper magazine alerts us to the new trend of Sproutcore, wherein fashion-forward men, women, and children in China have begun pinning sprouts to their heads. The plant in question can vary; sometimes it’s an actual live bean sprout – those crunchy long white sprouts you find across Chinese cuisine – but just as often it appears to be a facsimile made of cloth and wire.

So how did this happen? One theory is that it’s due to the enduring popularity of an animated Chinese show which is (inexactly, I’m sure) translated as “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.” Here’s a preview, from a 2010 movie made of the series.

It’s sort of a riff on Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog (“Mornin, Sam.” “Mornin, Ralph.”) from the old Warner Brothers cartoons: A community of goats live in a pleasant pasture, and an evil wolf tries to eat them. One of the characters, whose name is translated as “Slowy” or “Slow Goat,” is depicted as a slow-moving but wise older character, and when he thinks too hard, leaves sprout from the top of his head.

The show is enormously popular; Disney even acquired the rights back in 2010 to broadcast it on various Disney channels. But the other explanation is an awful lot simpler: it’s adorable.

It appears China's latest fashion trend is wearing bean sprouts on your head #sproutcore – http://t.co/BBRzmQPeTA pic.twitter.com/2oPiuRf9z8

— First We Feast (@firstwefeast) September 9, 2015

This is big in China. Introducing the #beansprout clip. Sort of adorable. Sort of ridiculous. I like it. #sproutcore #trend #china #sprout

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A photo posted by 👉❤🍵 (@sim_seff) on Oct 2, 2015 at 10:25am PDT

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