Recently, I had a discussion with apalacesurroundedbytrees (a mori user on tumblr) and we were both curious to see what sorts of things unite the mori community as a whole, if anything. So, I made a survey to do just that! So many of you participated, and I officially received 202 responses by the time I had closed the poll. Thank you so much to all of you!
Now that the poll is closed, its time to disclose the data I collected. I will present the raw data, as well as my own personal interpretations and comments. But feel free to come to your own conclusions about the answers as they are.
Additionally, I purposefully created the survey to be as neutral as possible, and so I included questions that I hope reflect well the many different opinions in our community. Not all of these opinions shared here are my own, but I included them all the same, just to be fair.
So without further ado, let's begin!
Demographics:
A few of the questions I included were optional questions about the demographics of those taking my survey. Most of these were things I was simply curious about and thought would be interesting to see. At least 80% of surveyors answered these questions, so I feel that they are a fairly accurate representation of who was taking the survey.
"How long have you been wearing mori?"
Since its creation around 2006: 7%
10-12 years: 8%
5-9 years: 25%
4-1 years: 41%
Less than a year: 19%
"Are you an introvert, extrovert, or omnivert?"
Introvert: 72%
Omnivert: 22%
Extrovert: 6%
"How old are you?"
Teenager and younger: 4%
Young adult: 41%
Adult: 55%
Personal thoughts: These demographics honestly weren't surprising to me. This seems to be about accurate to what I have seen across the mori communities I am involved in. The only one that was bit surprising was how many of the surveyors are new to the style. I'm glad to see Mori is still growing even now!
Lifestyle and Fashion:
This set of questions focuses on more conventional ideas of mori kei, both fashion and the existence of the mori lifestyle, as well as some personality traits that are generally considered to be mori traits.
"I enjoy mori kei because I feel it is a lifestyle."
Agree: 70%
Neutral: 28%
Disagree: 2%
"I believe that you can be mori and only engage in the lifestyle aspect."
Agree: 50%
Neutral: 34%
Disagree: 16%
"I am, generally, a self-reliant, self-sufficient, or independent person."
Agree: 67%
Neutral: 28%
Disagree: 5%
"I would generally refer to myself as whimsical or quirky."
Agree: 73%
Neutral: 22%
Disagree: 5%
"I believe you can be mori and still have 'non-mori' interests."
Agree: 97%
Neutral: 2%
Disagree: 1%
"I am attracted to mori fashion because of its loose rules."
Agree: 70%
Neutral: 28%
Disagree: 2%
"I can relate to the statement, 'the pace of life that I dream of and try to achieve is unapologetically slow-paced'."
Agree: 77%
Neutral: 18%
Disagree: 5%
"I enjoy mori kei for the fashion."
Agree: 86%
Neutral: 12%
Disagree: 2%
Personal thoughts: There were a few things here that surprised me. Firstly, I was shocked that so many people agree you can be mori and only engage in the lifestyle aspect. I wouldn't say I disagree with this statement, but it's certainly not completely accurate to what mori actually is. Originally, it was created as a fashion style, and any lifestyle aspects that were attached were more general aspects that didn't necessarily create a lifestyle on their own. The "mori lifestyle," as we know it today, is something that was created by the international mori community, not the Japanese community who created the fashion and the term "mori kei/mori girl" in the first place. Again, I'm not saying its wrong, or right. It's just interesting to see so many people accepting an additive to the style as the core of what mori is.
Similarly, I was also surprised to see a small section of people saying they don't enjoy mori fashion but still consider themselves mori. That is so strange to me! No matter where you fall on the lifestyle debate, I think most of us can agree that the core point of mori kei is the fashion. To not enjoy the fashion but still accept the label is beyond my understanding. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, it's just strange to me personally. I mean, how do you go about telling someone you're mori then? I'm genuinely curious. Because when people see I'm mori, they often search it up online, and the first thing that's going to come up is the fashion. It must be hard to explain to people when you aren't interested in the fashion! I already have enough issues explaining the fashion alone ;)
One thing I was glad to see is that we can almost all agree that mori doesn't mean you have to mold yourself into a certain type of person, and that you can have non-mori interests and still be mori. I love how this community has managed to largely avoid gatekeeping for so long. You guys are the best!
It was also interesting for me to see that the majority of us tend to follow the traditional "choco's list" mori personality traits. I thought there would be more divergence honestly. I'm pleasantly surprised to see we all have so much in common!
Interests:
This set of questions has to do with various interests that generally seem to fit well into the mori aesthetic. Some are trends I have noticed, and others are related to Choco's list and the original mori kei aesthetic.
"I am interested in Japanese culture."
Agree: 68%
Neutral: 27%
Disagree: 5%
"I enjoy creative hobbies (ie. knitting, photography, drawing, baking, etc.)"
Agree: 84%
Neutral: 16%
"I enjoy drinking warm drinks (like coffee, tea, or cocoa)."
Agree: 83%
Neutral: 16%
Disagree: 1%
"I feel drawn to nature and the forest."
Agree: 95%
Neutral: 5%
"I am interested in protecting the environment, sustainability, or other environmental issues."
Agree: 92%
Neutral: 7%
Disagree: 1%
"I enjoy the folktale/fairy tale/mythical aesthetic."
Agree: 93%
Neutral: 5%
Disagree: 2%
"I enjoy literature and reading."
Agree: 81%
Neutral: 16%
Disagree: 3%
Personal thoughts: The answers to these questions really surprised me. Again, I expected there to be more diversity in opinions here. I suppose I've been hearing the loud minority of voices on these topics, but for some reason, I felt that a lot of mori folk rejected the traditional mori activities. It seems that I was wrong! It's so interesting for me to see that almost all of us can agree on our hobbies, to an extent. It seems we have more in common than I thought!
Final thoughts:
Overall, this was a super interesting project for me. I'd love to do this again in a better format so that I can more properly analyze the results. I would be interested in seeing, for instance, what the difference is in answers between those who have been wearing the fashion for a long time, versus newcomers to the community. Unfortunately, I had never created a survey before this, so this is the best I could do. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the findings.
Also, just because the poll is closed doesn't mean you can't still participate! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments about your own opinions, and the data I've collected. How well do you feel this data reflects the mori community? Is there another question you might have included? Let me know what you think about this little project!
Best wishes!
I'm going to guess by the lack of a "disagree" pie slice, that none of us dislike being creative or don't feel drawn to nature/the forest? :D Good to hear hehe
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see such high results for both new mori girls, and the adult age range! I fall into both of those, and having come into the style super-recently and seen so many "mori kei is dying", "there's barely any community anymore" posts, it's heartening to see that there's still lots of us older newcomers joining in :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to run this survey and publish the results! It was very interesting to see!
Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for sharing your thoughts! :)
DeleteI love this! Thank you so much for conducting the survey. What interesting results, though I am honestly not surprised. If I could have had a hypothesis before this started, I would have assumed a lot of these things (mostly introverted community, interested in the forest, have creative hobbies, enjoy a slow-paced life).
ReplyDeleteI think for those who identify as mori without partaking in the fashion are really more of a "cottagecore" group, though I do think mori and cottagecore are merging now and it's hard to tell one apart from the other. I don't mind, because I think they complement each other very well and I'll gladly have a foot in both communities. But it does seem to be a point of contention for people who are following mori solely for the fashion.
Thank you again! This has been great fun!
I think the point of contention isn't because mori folk ALSO engage in mori aesthetic stuff (like cottagecore) but rather that those who are solely a similar aesthetic claim the title of mori girl, ignoring the fashion entirely. Again, I'm not into gatekeeping who can and can't be mori, but I personally get frustrated when those who don't wear the fashion and only have a rough grasp on the lifestyle and aesthetic claim to be mori. Mori was originally mainly a fashion style, and when you completely remove that from the title, you lose the original aspect of mori kei and clutter up the tag. We're already such a small community online, and I worry others who are not involved in, or do not recognize, the fashion aspect will end up overcrowding and drowning out what is left of the fashion part of the community. Don't get me wrong though, those who do both, or even lifestyle mori folk who still recognize that mori is ALSO a fashion, are great :) I just worry about those who simply see it as another label to slap onto their similar aesthetic posts.
DeleteBut yeah! Cottagecore and mori are very similarly aesthetically, and I think they fit together very well! I think a lot of mori folk are also involved in aesthetic groups like cottagecore because they fit together so well. It's another way that we as a group can connect and share aesthetically pleasing content.
Thanks for you thoughts, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Oh, yes, I understand that frustration. I think because it feels so shallow, almost like people are adding the 'mori' tag to their posts for the views and not actually with the intention to contribute to the community. I think that's a very fair thing to be annoyed at.
DeleteThis survey was very interesting, thank you! I was happy to see so many responses, after hearing so much about the fashion 'dying out'. I think it's alive and well! It's just that Mori has always been a smaller community than many others.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't wear Mori all the time because I live in a hot country plus it's hard to find good plus-size pieces so my wardrobe is very small. Plus I work in an office so full Mori co-ords confined to weekends. BUT having said all that I still consider myself Mori because I wear it when I can, in combination with the lifestyle aspects/activities which I do all the time.
A lot of people might find this a bit 'woo', but I've come to feel that Mori is a state of mind. I might not dress in Mori kei all that often, but I feel Mori all the time. It's kind of a spiritual thing. Admittedly, that's probably expanding the definition of Mori a bit far! I guess I use the word 'Mori' as a shorthand to describe a lifestyle with aesthetic, behavioural and spiritual aspects. But I am still aware that Mori is a fashion first and foremost. I hope that makes sense!
Thanks again for taking the trouble to host the survey!