Saturday, March 8, 2025

A Beginner's Guide to Mori Kei (2025 Edition)


It’s 2025. You turn on your computer, and through some streak of luck, stumble across images for a J-fashion style called “Mori Girl”. You’re so excited. This is exactly the kind of fashion you’ve been looking for, and you’re instantly in love.

But tragedy strikes. You go to google for more information and you are instantly inundated with reblogged pinterest photos with no sources, articles of questionable quality from fast fashion brands that seem to say a lot without saying anything meaningful, and blogs that haven’t been updated since 2015 at least.

Has this happened to you? Well fear not! I am here to give you a guide to getting started with mori kei in the years since its decline in popularity.

If you are new to the style and feeling lost, this guide is for you! And if mori is old hat to you, maybe you can find some interesting tidbits here as well.

Let’s get started!

Contents:

Preface: Where is all the mori content? / What is going on with mori in Japan?

If you are just discovering mori in 2025 or later, then I have to inform you of some sad news. Mori is, for all intents and purposes, a dead fashion style. At least in terms of its influence and growth in Japan.

All mori brands, online groups, and street snaps in Japan have completely died out. If Japanese mori girls are still around, they are not posting publicly on social media (not surprising given Japan’s love of privacy), or have transferred to modern iterations of natural fashion, like Natural Kei or mainstream equivalents.

However, mori is never dead as long as the international community keeps it alive! And thankfully, there are always a few mori friends here and there around the world wearing the style.

Sadly, a lot of international people who were once prevalent in the style have left the fashion as well, deleting their internet content when they left. That is what has led to a lack of content on the fashion overall. However, mori content is still around if you know where to look!

What is the history of mori?

I wrote a pretty comprehensive post on this topic here, and you can also check out more information on the mori wiki as well.

A quick version if you are short on time is this: mori girl, also know as mori kei, was created around 2006 in Japan, and exploded in popularity around the world. It faded in popularity in Japan around 2014, with brands and street snaps slowing before disappearing altogether. It had a more recent re-surge in popularity with the rise of cottagecore, which, although a different fashion entirely, has some similar aspects to it.

Useful Links

    How do I get started learning the rules and the fashion?

    Unlike some other J-fashion styles with stricter rules and guidelines, mori is a very loose and free fashion. It’s all about matching the general vibes and silhouette of an outfit.

    There are a handful of things you will see across the fashion to keep in mind, such as:
    • Natural fabrics
    • Loose fit/silhouette
    • Layering
    • Natural colors
    But each of these rules can and will be broken, as mori is highly customizable to your personal preferences.

    It can be daunting at first without a strict checklist to follow (although there is a Japanese checklist that can serve as a starting point on your journey), but my best advice is to read up a bit on the style, find images you like, and build your style off of that. As you learn and expand your wardrobe and outfit making skills, it will get easier with time to make the mori outfit of your dreams!

    Useful Links

      Where can I buy mori clothing?

      Historically, mori has had two main sources of clothes.

      The first and oldest is thrifting. Before mori had any mainstream relevance, mori people only thrifted their clothing. It’s the oldest and most reliable way to find pieces. It takes time, but anyone can do it.

      If you happen to have no thrift shops/bad thrift shops in your area, check out online options like depop, threadup, eBay, etc.

      The other type of clothing is brand pieces. However, mainstream mori brands have all closed their doors. The likelihood of getting your hands on any of their pieces are slim to none. That means your options are basically only replicas on sites like AliExpress and Taobao.

      There are some small brands that sell mori pieces, and you can also look for other similar styles from brands as well. Search terms to look for include:
      • lagenlook
      • boho/bohemian/etc.
      • cottagecore
      • country chic
      All of these are separate styles with their own looks, but many of the pieces sold for them can also work for you!

      Some small brands, specialty shops, modern Japanese brands, and others also sell some mori pieces, some examples include:
      Useful Links

      Where can I find mori resources?

      Well, you are on my blog, so that is a great place to start! But if you’re looking for more options to dig through, here are a few great ones.

      • Mori magazine archive (a collection of magazine scans from mori's most popular days in Japan)
      • Mori kei resources archive (a tumblr archiving any kind of mori resource you could ever want, all in one place)
      • Joining mori communities (see below): You can ask any questions and get feedback from fellow mori folk.

      Is there a mori community?

      Yes! It’s small, but we are still around. These days, most of us are chilling on our own personal media sites, as things like Facebook groups and LiveJournal where we used to come together have fallen out of popularity. (I’m personally on BlueSky and YouTube as forestsandtea, but I know of others on Instagram, tumblr, etc.) But, the main, curated community is discord. There are also smaller communities based around individual creators, so if you like a creator, check to see what social media they are on and follow them there.

      Can I wear mori if I’m (plus-sized/not Japanese/tall/short/masculine/etc.)

      Short answer: Yes. If someone tells you differently, block them and run away. Joking. Kind of.

      Anyone and everyone can wear mori. If it makes you happy, wear it!

      Useful Links

      What kind of things should be cautious of when getting into mori?

      This is a broad thing, and there are caveats and exceptions to each of these points. However, I recommend being cautious of:

      • Any articles from fast fashion brands, J-fashion resellers (like Dolls Kill, etc.), and any information from non-mori community people that does not link sources. In general, look for where their info and images are coming from. Specifically, larger brands have recently started making "mori" articles, but have no idea about the style.
      • Buying from mori brands on Chinese websites like Taoboa and AliExpress. They are often replicas of cheaper quality, and the sizing can be inconsistent. So check reviews, sizing, etc. before you purchase anything!
      • Cottagecore sources on mori. Not all cottagecore folks are guilty of this, but a lot of them have fallen into the trap of "cottagecore = mori", which is quite frankly, false. The two are similar, but not identical.
      Useful Links

        Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this post. 

        For new moris, welcome to the community and we are happy to have you here! Please feel free to ask any questions below that this post may not have covered.

        For old moris, share your favorite sources of inspiration and links down below that I may have missed! (Self promo is welcome as well ;) )

        Until next time, everyone!



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        2 comments:

        1. SaiMarch 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM

          I've stumbled upon your blog while researching some styles, and it's so cool! It definitely has me interested in mori kei. I like how it has a modest look, since I'm a Muslim this style would be easy to wear, and it's really cute as well!

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          Replies
          1. KathrynMarch 11, 2025 at 1:54 AM

            So glad I could be of help, and good luck on your mori journey :)

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