My post about panda dresses reminded me of a fashion fad from my childhood: clip-on koalas. For a year or so, it was de rigueur to walk around with a small, stuffed koala toy clipped to one’s shirt or jacket. They came in gray and tan. Eventually there was a clip-on panda too. I was obsessed! I’m not sure if the toys were originally designed for wearing. They make more sense as plant decorations …
Click to buy a 12-pack for $24.
… and are a super-kawaii way to deal with bad smells.
12 clip-on koalas with plastic suction are only $7.56 on this site.
When I went to the San Diego Zoo with gorgeous blogger ENC of Observationmode in 2008, we observed real-life pandas and koalas, none of which looked very wearable. In fact, the real-life koala clipped to a real-life tree looked like he’d cut a bitch who disturbed his 23-hour-long nap.
ENC's koala photo.
Maybe it’s my koala history that makes me yearn for one of panda-dress-designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s teddy-bear coats.
Castelbajac's teddy-bear coat was shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Of course, koalas aren’t actually bears. They’re bear-like marsupials. And the cutest bear-like marsupial of all time — OF ALL TIME! — is the one who got in a bucket of water to escape an Australian heat wave.
Click to see all of the koala-in-bucket pictures at Cute Overload.
That koala was so cute that Diane Sawyer reported on it.
But I don’t think the koala was saying, “Hey, you come here often?” as Diane suggests. He was definitely saying, “How YOU doin‘?”
I think Henry the dog looks a little like a koala.
Henry. Photo by Jennine Jacob.
My nickname for him is “Henry Bear” because “Henry Marsupial” just doesn’t sound right.
Got any bear- or koala-related memories? Share them in the comments.
UPDATED TO ADD: I initially didn’t include Sam the koala in this post because Sam, who was rescued from a wildfire by a firefighter, later had to be euthanized due to koala chlamydia. I thought it would be too sad. But I re-watched the video of her drinking water from the firefighter’s bottle and it is cute to the nth degree. Here it is.
Sam is now on display at the Melbourne Museum. The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter, which helped care for Sam, is raising money for a wildlife hospital. You can email the shelter at southernash@live.com.au to inquire about sponsoring a koala.
UPDATED AGAIN TO ADD: I found a Moschino teddy-bear dress on 1stdibs.com for $2,800. Thank goodness it’s not my size so I don’t have to pine for it.
Click to buy.
What a blast from my childhood–I had a major collection of those clip-ons… koalas, pandas, I think even a raccoon! You could buy all sorts at the Roosevelt Raceway flea market on Long Island back in the day. Thanks for giving me a nice memory on a Saturday night 🙂
I had a raccoon too! Thanks for reminding me.
I’m sure that I had one of those clip on bears too. Probably in pink.
Do you remember the puffball (pom-poms) with big stick on feet and antennas? They came in all different colors.
Okay, I just Poodle’d it and they were called “weeples” (who knew!) – http://www.kipptoys.com/ProductBrowse/ProductDetail.aspx?TID=236&SID=411&PID=15796
cute pic of henry. i call my pup Polo bear. No memories necessarily come to mind that are out of the ordinary. I did have a turtle growing up that my brother’s “took” care of. Nobody could find the turtle for weeks at a time and I would randomly find him in the shower when I would try to get ready in the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say I would scream and wake everyone up because I don’t like slimy turtles in the early morn.
:)gina
Here’s my turtle story! http://wendybrandes.com/blog/2007/08/this-just-in-tiny-tortoise-locket/
Correct, koalas will cut a bitch. They are quite aggressive despite their cute appearance and they have sharp claws!
Lol I had many of those clips.. I had a yellow winnie the pooh looking one with a red vest and a white bear and a lot more.. I bet if I look really hard I can still find one
I’ve lived in Australia all my life and grew up in an area where there were a lot of koalas. When I was little, my mum’s friend would look after koalas that had been hit by cars. I can still remember holding a baby koala called Wendy. It was the cutest thing ever, but their claws sure are sharp!
The koala in the bucket video was taken around the time when we had a disgusting heat wave and then the awful bush fires 🙁
I laughed when I read about the clip on koala trend, you can practically buy them by the bucket here for $2.
PS. Henry is definitely a dead ringer for a koala 🙂
I’m scared of koalas, their nails look like knives. But Henry Bear sure is cute.
My dear hubby is the biggest koala lover ever. Once at a zoo, he was going to go home with a furry buddy. Really. I gotta show him these.
Hi there-what an adorable picture of Henry, he is just so cuddly and sweet!!
Cute pics. Henry is adorable.
We were in Vancouver one year for summer vacation and went to the zoo. There was a polar bear lying in the same pose our dog Zach always was in while resting.
We took a picture of him, and have a photo of the two posing in the same position, side by side.
I should find the picture and post it on Facebook.
We did call Zach “Bear” a lot after that holiday.
Oh that little koala was sooo cute wasn’t he. There was also another who was given a drink of water by some passing cyclists
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/02/03/2481612.htm?site=adelaide
They actually are quite cuddly; though I have never myself, they let people hug them at Sydney Zoo and a few other places.
I almost included a picture of Sam, who got a drink from a firefighter, but thought it was too sad as Sam later died from koala chlamydia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/06/2648106.htm
OMG!!!! Yes, I used to own those clip on koalas too, now i wonder why the clip on koala things just disappeared…
btw, happy 10.10.10 my dear
MWAH
Jemina
xoxo
Hahahaha…. my little cousin adores those clip on animals, he’s got a koala as well :)Super cute!
-Marta
I heart koala bears! When i was in primary school there was a phase when everyone was into anything koala bear related
xx
marian.
I had one of those koalas as a kid; it was from a garage sale. I made a little habitat for it with paper leafs for it to eat.
If you made clips of Henry the Marsupial I would proudly wear one. That koala in the bucket is insanely cute. I didn’t think it was real.
(ooh, my word was zangtoi)
http://www.mossonline.com/product-exec/product_id/37852
yeah, don’t cut me, koala baby … sleep it off.
there was that seventh grade visit to the vice principal of not my skirt lengths for wearing a little lizard with a tiny collar on my dress and really, I did that????????
*sobbing* no more teddy bear chairs will be produced!
I remember those clip on bears too!
“Henry Marsupial” doesn’t really roll of the tongue like “Henry Bear,” now does it? I agree that “Henry Bear” sounds better.
I never had any of those clip-on koalas, but my friends did, and I played with them incessantly, even though I was too old to do it.
I can’t believe you found (and remembered) that photo of the koala from our fabled day at the zoo. That was fun!
The teddy bear coat reminds me of Flea’s stuffed-animal pants in the Red Hot Chili Peppers Video of “Higher Ground.”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS3hEuAbuLE)
Sorry, I couldn’t paste the bit.ly shortened URL for some reason.
I don’t remember the koalas, but I remember clip-on monkeys. Anyone else have that memory?
$2800 for the Moschino dress on 1st Dibs…it’s a steal!
I want a pet koala, even if it is a marsupial.
If I go to my parents for Christmas this year I am totally bringing back my clip on koala. And maybe my little stuffed koala too!
I used to collect koala bears (I had one of those clip-on ones in 1976, with rabbit fur in the ears, from the San Diego Zoo) when I was a kid. I had several stuffed ones, including two that were made from kangaroo fur. Kind of creepy now, but I loved them then.
I feel like sewing some stuffies to a dress now.
I have one of those clip-on koalas at my work desk! A coworker who just returned from Australia bought several 12-packs and distributed them to all our team members. Many of these koala’s are currently clipped to my manager’s huge potted plant. He has a koala infestation!
How did I ever miss this post? One of my favorite memories is that I was given a real koala, albeit stuffed, by a Quantas flight attendant when I was young. It was an amazing thing to behold, and I cherished it until it succumbed to a second death by dog maul(bad dog, bad!). That’s when I saw the beautiful fur covered bright, teeny tiny super clean wood shavings. Years later I ended up on Australia for work and headed to a Koala camp. Holding the real deal was decidedly anti-climactic, although I do think they are the cutest things on the planet.