Mori Magazines: Mori Girl Lessons

Throughout its popularity in Japan and Harajuku fashion communities, mori kei has often, like many other of its fellow J-fashion styles, been featured in magazines. Similar to other fashions, it has also had its own unique magazine series produced. Although all of these have since concluded, they remain a popular source for mori inspiration.

Today, I want to introduce you to one of these such magazines, the Mori Girl Lessons.

Publisher

The Mori Girl Lessons were a series of magazines catered directly to mori fashion, published by Takarajimasha. The company has published many fashion magazines over the years, such as MILK. I still often see their magazines in stores here in Japan.

The company delved into the mori world in the early 2010s, producing 6 known issues of their mori style guides, known as "Mori Girl Lessons."

Contents

The Mori Girl Lessons featured a wide variety of contents, from clothes, to hair, to makeup, and even celebrity features!

The magazines covered a wide variety of themes, but a few unique themes to the magazine included all white and creme coordinates, more colorful coordinates featuring darker colors and gem tones, and outfits with minimal layers. Many colorful images of mori coordinates that circle around on the internet have come out of Mori Girl Lesson publications.

Classic Images

Several classic and widely circulated mori images were produced in the Mori Girl Lessons. Some notable examples include the magazine cover photos, the classic image of a mori girl reading in the forest, and the pastel blue shoot. 

Outfit Shots

Of course, the magazines also featured many outfit photos, showcasing various mori coordinates. Most often, the outfits featured many layered skirts and dresses. But the publication also included various pants coordinates and more toned-down looks with fewer layers.

Brand Features

(Left: marble SUD, Right: Earth Music & Ecology, Top: Q-pot and KOOS)

Like most fashion magazines, Mori Girl Lessons had feature spreads to various brands that catered to the mori aesthetic. Some were more mainstream recognizable brands like Earth Music & Ecology, but others were more niche brands found only in Harajuku.

Each spread would showcase various items of clothing or accessories, with pricing and descriptions. Occasionally, household goods with a mori vibe were featured as well.

Hair and Makeup Tutorials

Another key feature of J-fashion magazines is always the hair and makeup sections. Mori Girl Lessons predictably showcased soft natural looks, such as braided hairstyles, and light makeup looks. 

Celebrity Features

(Left: MEG, Right: Popoyans)

A unique feature of the Mori Girl Lessons was its inclusion of various mori "celebrities". For example, the musical duo Popoyans was featured as models in an issue, and the well-known mori model MEG was also featured.

In addition to larger celebrities, they also had spreads interviewing staff of various mori girl catered shops, such as the now defunct store "flower". These spreads would have recommendations from the staff, and occasionally outfit photos from them as well.

As always, we have scans of the mori girl magazines on the mori magazine scan archive! Please feel free to check them out and enjoy these lovely magazines for yourself.

Check out other posts in this series!

COMING SOON