History of Mori Kei in Japan

## Creation and Decline

In 2006, a community called "Mori Girl" was created on the japanese social network mixi. The name was chosen by it's manager, Choco, after a friend commented one of her outfits with "You look like you are in the forest."  On this wiki, Choco created Choco's List, a list of loose rules and guidlines for the style. Not even the original Mori Girls followed them completely, but regardless, they gave a basis for what the style was and wasn't.

After the creation of the Mixi and Choco's list, Mori Girl quickly began to gain traction as a popular street style in Harajuku. Many street snaps appeared within the year in popular street snap magazines and on street snap websites. In addition, it soon made its debut in fashion magazines as well. Publications like Spoon, Mori Girl Lesson, and Fudge began to produce issues dedicated to the Mori style and became another basis for what the style was and was not.

Mori Girl brands also began to pop up around this time. Wonder Rocket, one of the most highly recognized Mori brands, opened its doors to Harajuku in 2007, and online shops, such as DearLi, began to appear as well. By this point, Mori Girl had become one of the most prominent Japanese fashions, rivaling those such as Dolly Kei, Cult Party Kei, Lolita, and Decora, at one point or another.

The “Mori Girl” community also grew around this time, and reached 35,000 people in 2009. It caused a big boom that lead to creation of multiple mori magazines and brands. However, magazines and brands decline with the end of its popularity.

Mori Girl began to fade as a street style around 2013-2014, with street snaps beginning to slow before disappearing altogether. A lot of prominent internet Mori personalities began to deactivate their blogs around this time as well, and a lot of smaller brands disappeared.  As of 2019, the online article about the origin of mori has been deleted, and the brand that has been worn at the highest of its popularity, "Wonder Rocket," also closed its Harajuku store in 2017.

## "Modern" Mori Kei

Some brands and styles have begun to call the new Natural Kei trend a new version of mori. This style is more simple, and is widely popular across Japan.  Indeed, in Japan, where mori is all but gone, this may be so. However, for the international community, the style in its many variations, including classic styles, is being kept alive. (See Social Media)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 choco. *森ガール fashion & style BOOK.* マイコミ. 2009. Pg. 96.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Asahi Sato. "森ガールとは。コーデの特徴とブランド【イラストで解説】" MyNavi. October 15, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020 from https://woman.mynavi.jp/article/190828-8/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Be One With The Forest: Mori Girl." Naomi and Doll. March 21, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2020 from https://www.naomindoll.com/2015/03/be-one-with-the-forest-mori-girl/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "森ガール." Wikipedia. May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020 from https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A3%AE%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "An Introduction to Mori Kei." idontknowmuchbutimlearning. September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2020 from https://idontknowmuchbutimlearning.blogspot.com/2017/09/an-introduction-to-mori-kei.html
6. ↑ "最新版【森ガールコーデ】年代別コーデ開設＆大人っぽく仕上げるコツまで！" Mine. December 25, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020 from https://www.mine-3m.com/mine/news/image?news\_id=11206