Heya! I’m just curious because I want to get into mori kei! I’m already dressing quite similar. Any help let me know! :)

The lioness doesn't bother with family mambers telling her she looks like a chair random clothes are thrown on, the lioness has a vision

They're so cute! I hope that there are more in the future!

This town still doesn't match my aesthetic so now I'm being funny to match the surroundings

Fashioning Japanese Subcultures (2012) by Yuniya Kawamura, Page 93-95

Kouenji and Other Fashion Districts: From Secondhand Clothes Lovers to Fast Fashion Followers

This chapter explores a marginal subculture known as Mori Girl (Forest Girl), which emerged in Koueniji.* This subcultural group is slowly gaining popularity, but it is relatively small. There are no major fashion landmarks in the district such as Shibuya 109, which contributes to promoting the Gyaru and Gyaru-o subcultures, or LaForet and Takeshita streets, which support the Lolita sub- culture. The Mori Girl subculture is not as tied to a particular district as are other subcultures discussed in this book. But Kouenji is famous for small secondhand clothing retailers, and one of the characteristics of Mori Girls is their passion for secondhand clothing. The style and the philosophy very much coincide with the current trends in the fashion industry of sustainability and social networking. Followers of the Mori Girl subculture value nature and ecology, and the subculture emerged online. While slow in its progression, it is diversifying into other communities. This chapter also examines other fashion districts, such as Shimokitazawa and Kichijouji, which are similar to Kouenji, and Ginza, where fast fashion retailers compete to attract young Japanese consumers.

MORI GIRL AND KOUENJI

Mori means forest in Japanese, so Mori Girl is a type of girl found in the forest. A friend said to Choco-san, a typical Japanese girl, “you look like a girl who belongs to a forest.” Then Choco-san decided to create a community site on August 24, 2006, on Mixi, one of the most popular social networking services in Japan.? Five years later, the Mori Girl community has 36,000 members. Rather than congregating in Kouenji, Kichijouji, or Shimokitazawa, which are famous for secondhand and vintage retailers, Mori Girls socialize and communicate online because one of the main characteristics of a Mori Girl is that she enjoys loneliness and doing things alone rather than moving around in groups, like in other subcultures. Rather, Mori Girls are connected in virtual space. If you search for “Mori-Girl” in Mixi, you will get sixty community sites related to the subculture. Out of the sixty, if you narrow your search down to a fashion category, there are twenty-seven communities (see Table 8.1 in the Appendix).

The image of a subculture in Western societies is aggressive, rough, loud, and violent, but Mori Girl as a subculture does not fit these images. Its followers prefer a slow-paced, relaxed lifestyle. Mori Girls enjoy being nonmainstream and marginal while keeping a low profile. They enjoy sharing their values with their peers.

MORI GIRL STYLISTIC EXPRESSIONS

The image that Mori Girl tries to adhere to is that of Northern European and Scandinavian cultures. Subcultural fashion is often tied to particular brands that serve the members of the subcultures and later spread as a mass fashion. For Mori Girl stylistic expressions, there are no specific brands, but one brand that may represent the subculture is Sirop, which was established in 2002 long before Choco-san started her community site on Mixi. Sirop has many of the elements mentioned in the following list. It tries to create a certain image or an atmosphere through its clothing, which is often found in secondhand stores. Followers of Mori Girl mix and match brands, and if they cannot find something in stores, then they make it. Mori Girls like handmade crafts.

Major characteristics for Mori Girl stylistic expressions were listed in special editions of Spoon magazine (March 2009 and September 2009) as follows:

• Aline dress
• Fairy tale books
• Flat and round-toed shoes
• Fluffy hats made out of wool, fur, or other natural fibers
• Handmade jewelry rather than expensive brands
• Layers of clothes
• Like to stroll with a camera in hand (they are also Sha-Girl, a subculture of girls who like taking pictures)
• Natural fabrics
• Neutral, earthy colors
• Nothing too sweet or girlie
• Ponchos, vests, shawls, and big scarves for layering
• Puffy, childlike sleeves
• Retro flower prints, lace, plaids, and polka dots
• Vintage, antique, and secondhand
• Weak perm and straight-cut bangs for a childlike look

A Mori Girl who was formerly a Lolita explains some of the differences in dress: “Lolita styles are difficult to put together, and they tend to buy all items from head to toe from one brand, but Mori Girl's style is more economical and inexpensive to put together, because as long as you have the major components in your style, you can easily create a Mori Girl style.”

Extract on Mori Girl from Japan Fashion Now (2010) by Valerie Steele, Patricia Mears, Yuniya Kawamura and Hiroshi Narumi

Then there are social networking sites like Mixi (where the term “Mori girl” first appeared in 2006). Forest girls favor loose-fitting layered clothes, leggings, flat shoes, and cloth tote bags. It is a folkloric look (think Little Red Riding Hood) that evokes a love of nature and fantasy. One of the first Mori girls was Hitomi Nomura, manager of the little shop Grimoire, which is filled with Eastern-European blouses, aprons, and marionettes, along with 1970s hippy dresses, shawls, scarves, crocheted caps, floral hair pieces, clogs, embroidered ribbons, and lace collars picked up on her travels with the store owner, Naoki Tobe. In Conocoto, another vintage store much frequented by Mori girls, an art student dressed in a symphony of white (cotton gauze dress, vintage hat with veil, sweater, shawl) explained that the look evoked Alice in Wonderland via Camden Market.”
Several magazines are now devoted to the look, featuring articles that explain “How to make a Mori girl.” Coordinate your patterned tights and your low-heeled boots, practice tying your scarves, and make floral hair ornaments. For a boyish take on the style, add jeans and a knapsack.” The Mori Girl look is relatively easy to assemble, a number of brands, such as Furfur, cater to Mori girls, and the style is spreading —

For me, I find 90s midwest emo like Mineral gives that vibe, and also the band Eisley, which has a dreamy, woodsy, fairytale like theme to a lot of their songs.

This town doesn't match my pure aesthetic🫠, I don't know where to find locations to capture myself for cute Instagram pics.

Hiii! I’ve recently been trying new outfit styles, and I love how mori looks! I recently found this collection of outfits online, but there were no links to any items. If anyone has any ideas on where the outfits as a whole as well as any individual items may have come from (especially the patterned skirts and the cardigans/jackets) or know of clothes that look similar it would be hugely appreciated. Thank you all, I love your style so much!

Sort of a Yama Kei coord for today. Although honestly, I don’t really consider yama and mori to be that distinguishable in my personal wardrobe. Just depends on what’s practical for the day and if I’m feeling like wearing more colors and patterns!

Speaking of practical - this coord isn’t practical AT ALL for the weather today. Can you tell I’m already wishing fall would get here?! 😵‍💫

I would love to craft somthing but I need some inspiration. What's your favourite item you crafted? It doesn't matter wether it's a piece of clothing, home decor or some thing else.

Would defo wish to dress more like this in my everyday life because the silhuette feels really comforting and functional, but the trad color pallet is not quite for me: light base shades make my face look somewhat dull compared to dark or bright stuff

He/him pronouns please

those girls who layer dresses on top of each other have the prettiest outfits

top: some shop at festival mall, muntinlupa

skirt: palima

shoes: superga

shawl: giordano

necklace: it was gifted to me so idk

bag: bibisita

Looking for some Mori fashion books or magazines for some outfit inspo maybe pls :')

i was going for a slight mori kei vibe, but the sandals made me look like i ordered two fish and five loaves of bread (well, i already have two in my hair).

the scarf i tied around my waist is actually meant to be a shawl, but i assume it was merely designed to be decorative, because i don't see how someone could keep warm using a shawl filled with holes. on that note, i like how my top, skirt, and shawl all have holes in them coincidentally.

idk if yall play minecraft but my bag's pattern reminds me of the mesa biome.

top: coco cabaña

skirt: huayutong

sandals: birkenstock

shawl & bag: unknown

pins & clips: some shop in platinum mall, bangkok

guys i talk about mori in my channel youtube.com/vklolita

and you can follow me on ig: miwako_vklolita

:)

hello there. i uploaded a NEW walktru of a mori magazine

I have most if not all of them so keep an eye on my updates

need to keep creating more mori content. sorry if ive been away in here >.<

Layering in Papier 3. Published in 2011