As much as I love lolita, I have been active in the style for many, many years now and these days I feel myself drifting more towards dark mori both in my lifestyle and fashion. This brings us to the first prompt in the Mori Girl Challenge.... How did you become interested in ::dark:: mori fashion and lifestyle?
Well, the easy answer is that I stumbled upon your garden variety mori kei when it was first emerging back in about 2009/2010 through tumblr and livejournal, and other internet resources. As a young girl, I generally preferred the company of my garden and the woods behind my house to the company of other children. My mother told me stories about fairies and read me verse by pre-raphaelite and transcendentalist poets. I was utterly in love with nature and enamored with tales of girls who lived in the woods, completely self-sufficient, and I was convinced that I would grow up to be a naturalist of some sort (I really wanted to be a marine biologist). As I grew older, I found myself bound to the city, but my love for nature never died.
When I discovered mori girl fashion, I was immediately reminded of the girl my childhood self aspired to be when she grew up. A mori girl is independent, self-sufficient, a dreamer, a creative, and at one with animals and nature. Her chunky sweaters and warm scarves allow for comfort, while her delicate skirts and antique laces embrace the femininity of lolita. The many styles that can be considered mori let the wearer bounce between casual and almost hip, to very formal and historic. Although I try to let specific aesthetic principles unify my style, I get bored sticking to one "genre" of dress. Mori kei is very flexible, and much of what I find myself wearing on a day-to-day basis can fall into mori-inspired looks.
So why dark mori? Dark mori, for me, is an answer to the lightness of most conventional mori fashion. Dark mori adds an element of the obscure and the occult to the idea of the forest girl. Although I enjoy fairy tales and drinking tea, I also love the dreariness of a fog-soaked pacific morning, or looking for dead things on the beach, or collecting bones and touring cemeteries. Nature is most importantly cyclical, and death and the other side is a large part of that cycle. The witch archetype is something I identify with strongly, and dark mori helps me embrace that visually. Another prompt asks if mori kei has changed your outlook on life or your lifestyle, and I would say it has, but that's a tale for another day! Stay tuned....
Are you interested in mori kei at all, dark or not? How did you get into your fashion genre of choice? Or are you a fashion chameleon? Thanks for reading!! If you are participating in the 30 Day Mori Challenge, please let me know! I would love to read your posts.
Oh, I loved this post!! I define my style a lot towards dark mori. I had this style before I knew to put a word to it. As a person I have always preferred walking or running alone in the forest before a crowded club in the city. I also grow my own vegetables. I dress mostly in Scandinavian designs like Ewa i Walla (that kind of style) but the dark autumn and winter collections.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! That means a lot to me :). I think dark mori fashion really appeals to people who lived a mori-appropriate lifestyle before the fashion had a name. I love love love love Scandanavian design such as Ewa i Walla. Actually a lot of my favorite "mori" coordinates are from brands like this rather than Japanese brands. I hope to do a post about brands such as this in the future, so if you have any coordinate pictures, feel free to send them my way and I could feature you (if that's okay of course)! I checked out your blog and I'm really glad I did :). I really wish I had a green thumb.....
DeleteI'm so glad you are doing this post! Mori-girl is an aesthetic that definitely appeals to me, though I can learn so little of it. So I'm looking forward to this series to get a better understanding. The pictures are beautiful and the little story about your childhood sounds like it could be from a fairytale.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll be elaborating a little bit on my personal relationship with mori kei in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading!
DeleteAs I'm heading towards my 60's, clearing out my working wardrobe and preparing for a new life in the country, it seems I'm heading more and more in this direction. Long skirts and petticoats, chunky sweaters, faded fabrics and antique laces. I think even older women can look good in this style and because I love darker things, the dark mori look seems to be a perfect fit at this stage of my life.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are beautiful and make me very happy. I'm looking forward to future posts on the subject! :o)
I definitely think that mori kei has the potential to be very wearable by mature women. Have you heard of Pink House? Pink House is a natural kei brand (sort of related to mori kei but more Little House on the Prarie-ish) from Japan that has been around for decades. They make really really beautiful clothes in kind of this aesthetic. These days, they are mostly known as a brand for mature women! Their garments new are quite expensive, but its easy to find cheap vintage pieces on Y! Japan Auctions. Their pieces are mostly light colored but you can find some dark ones in there sometimes!
DeleteThank you for the tip, Lady Salt! I shall definitely check out Pink House. Even if I can't find something in a dark colour, if I like it enough I'll buy it anyway, throw it in a vat of black or grey dye and hope for the best! :o)
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