I don't know much, but I'm learning.

Mori Kei is not a new fashion style. It has a long history and is rapidly approaching being old enough to be considered vintage (although I don't like to be reminded of that haha).  Most of us are aware of Mori's origins: the Mixi group, the name from Choco, its growth in Harajuku, etc. But there is one person who really helped mori to sprout and often gets mentioned only in side notes: Choco, the original Mixi group owner. So today, I want to take a look at her and her contributions to mori fashion! Where It All Started Choco's personal introduction in her style book Choco is a relatively unknown figure. She was a very private individual, and like many Japanese people online chose to never show her face or share her real name. Instead, she only went by the online name "Choco." Choco was the person who created and ran the original Mori Girl group on Mixi. She created the group on August 24, 2006. According to Choco herself, the reason for creating the group was no...

Welcome to the first actual post in this DIY series! If you need a refresher on the types of DIYs in this post, or DIY techniques, please check out the first post in this series . Newbie: Hot Glue Brooches Source: The Shabby Tree One simple DIY that was actually included in the recent mori week is hot glue brooches! This DIY was featured during Mori Week by mori-no-tori  and is a great beginner DIY craft. What You Need: Scraps of lace, yarn, fabric, etc. Any size, color, or shape will work. Doilies (lace appliques will also work if you cannot find any doilies, but they will be a stiffer material) Spare buttons, flowers, ribbons, beads, or charms A safety pin or lapel pin back Hot glue gun OR needle and thread  OPTIONAL: Felt for the base Tutorial Links: DIY Brooch - The Shabby Tree DIY QUICK & EASY Collaged Brooch! Tutorial How To Make It: Hot Glue Brooches are a very beginner-friendly craft, because each brooch is unique and there are no wrong or right ways to create one....

This post is going to be a part of a much larger series of posts on DIY and mori fashion. I will update it from time to time with new DIY ideas for you to try! The idea for this series came to mind when I noticed some people in the Mori Discord would bring up various pieces they wanted to buy, and I realized that each of these were easily DIY-able with very little skill needed. But I also know that while I was fortunate to have DIY expert parents who made most things by hand, a lot of people do not know where to begin when it comes to customizing their wardrobe. And so this series was born! This first post not include specific DIYs, but will focus on specific skills you might need while DIYing, and serve as a point of reference. I will also outline the "levels" of experience you will see in each DIY post. Levels I've chosen three levels for these posts, and each post will have one of each so that anyone can try their hand at a project! The three levels are: Newbie, Begin...

The original prompt for this month's Biblioethica post was meant to echo the movie Groundhog Day. Kind of a joking prompt when it was first brought up. But I think it can also be a great chance to talk about the "cycles" I see in the mori community. There are, of course, many kinds of cycles. Cycles in fashion, cycles in colors, cycles in hobbies, and many more. But today, I want to talk about the life cycle of a mori person!  I think most moris will experience all stages of this cycle, although some may decide to leave the fashion at some point and move on to other interests. But if you are a long-term mori or someone passionate about the style, you will likely find yourself somewhere on this cycle yourself! (Please know this post is just for fun! If any of these stages describe you, it is purely a coincidence based on larger trends and not me criticizing you/calling you out/etc. It is just my observations based on larger trends I have noticed over many years in the comm...

In 2024, I made a year in review post. I wanted to do the same thing for 2025. Although last year was a little harder and a little sadder, there were still a lot of good things to celebrate that I want to share with you all. Personal Life Sad stuff out of the way first. I had a lot of personal loss this year (not to mention the collective loss and fear in the world right now due to the rise of fascism, war, the state of the environment...) My sweet grandma passed away early in the year, right after I had moved back to the US from Japan. So it's been a year of grieving the loss of my family member and the place I had been calling home. But I'm grateful both that I could make it home in time to see my grandma again before she passed, and that I had a chance to live out my dream of living in Japan in the first place. Life is a mix of ups and downs, so I'm trying to learn to love them both. On a positive side, moving back to my home country has mean the chance to reconnect with...