Difference Between Mori Girl & Natural Kei

16th February 2012

Difference Between Mori Girl & Natural Kei

MORI GIRL

Mori means forest in Japanese. Mori girl’s outfits are inspired by the forest and what a forest dwelling girl might wear. This girl may be imagine as one who lives in a tree house high up in the tree tops or a little cottage deep inside the woods similar to the little cottage Snow White found the 7 dwarves living in. As such, her resources for clothing would often be limited. She tends to stick to earth tones such as browns, tan, and beiges since dyes and printed fabrics would not be readily available to her. They tend to wear layers, natural materials, loose flowing fabrics, the A-line shape, and asymmetrical hemlines.

NATURAL KEI

Just like mori girl, natural kei is also a fashion that is very close to nature. While mori girls are imagined to live in the forest, a natural kei girl may be imagined as one who resides in a village close to the forest living in a cute little cottage. Layers are still seen, but an abundance of more colors and patterned fabrics tend to appear because a girl living in a village would have more access to such things in her daily life. There are often less layers in this style then there are in mori girl since she is not exposed to the elements as much as a girl living in the forest would be. The layers are still there, though. While this style focuses on loose clothing too, it often appears a bit more fitted then mori girl does. Edges seem to be more finished, while frayed edges are popular in mori girl fashion. Natural kei takes influences from many storybook characters from Little House on the Prairie, The Secret Garden, and Anne of Green Gables. It also is inspired by many 1970s styles such as the prairie looks of Gunne Sax and Young Edwardian dresses.

While a person looking at a mori girl would say she looks like she belongs in the forest, a person looking at a girl dressed up in natural kei style would say she looks like she walked out of the prairie or a little cottage during the 19th century.