Mi sono lamentata della mia visita a Wonder Rocket durante il viaggio in Giappone dicendo che avevo grandi aspettative, ma nono rimasta delusa.
Ma qual è stato il mio problema? Ve lo mostro con qualche foto della collezione autunnale: semplicemente non è più una marca mori. Alcuni capi sono carini e particolari, ma potremmo vederli in un qualsiasi negozio giapponese. Wonder Rocket sembra essersi fuso con la sua sottomarca più attenta alle tendenze Momo e avere perso la propria individualità nel processo. Le due marche non sembrano essere più separate nemmeno sul sito. Vedremo se WR riuscirà a sopravvivere vendendo la stessa merce di tutti gli altri negozi (peraltro a prezzi non bassissimi) o se sarà costretto a chiudere o a darsi un'identità più particolare.
In ogni caso fa tutto parte del processo di declino del mori che sta inevitabilmente portando alla sua scomparsa, se non come moda di nicchia seguita da poche persone in tutto il mondo. In questo processo ho trovato estremamente significativa la chiusura dei maggiori blog mori in inglese e, come dice Rhiannon, la scomparsa di praticamente tutte le riviste mori, il cambio di stile o il trasferimento in internet dei negozi che vendevano abbigliamento mori.
I complained about my visit to Wonder Rocket during my travel in Japan, saying that I had high expectations, but I was disappointed.
But what was my problem? I'll show you it with some pictures of the fall collection: it is simply no longer a mori brand. Some piece of clothing are nice, but we could see them in any Japanese store. Wonder Rocket seems to have merged with its trendier sub-brand Momo and to have lost its individuality in the process. The two brands do not appear to be separated anymore even on the site. We'll see if WR will survive by selling the same goods as all the other stores (at prices that aren't super cheap), or if it will be forced to close or to give itself a specific identity again.
In any case, it's all part of the downfall of mori girl that is inevitably leading to his death, if not as niche trend followed by few people in the world. In this process I found extremely significant the shutting down of the biggest mori blogs in english and, as Rhiannon says, the disappearance of almost all mori magazines, the change of style or the transformation in online only shops of most shops selling mori clothing.
12 commenti:
personalmente non conosco benissimo questa marca però effettivamente il cambiamento è abbastanza evidente..
I think mori girl is pretty much finished here. Mori girl magazines like Papier and Mori Girl Lesson are long gone from bookstore shelves, and have been for at least a year. Stores that used to carry that style of clothing have mostly gone online-only or started to carry other styles (like wonder rocket, although favorite-one still has a real store in Ikebukuro). First, it overlaps a lot with the "natural" aesthetic that already existed here (lace trims, clover motifs, beige, fake leather, linen, etc.). That kind of thing is also worn a lot by older women, which changed my perception of it...and also, the age range of the girls who followed it and made it popular was early-to-mid-twenties, and those girls have gone on to find other, different styles for themselves (I think personal style changes a lot in that period before settling down later, from personal experience).
Slightly off-topic, but my style (and yours, I think) is very close to the mori girls that were upheld as models when mori girl first started - Aoi Yu in Honey and Clover, the girl from Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru, and Nodame from Nodame Cantabile. But none of them dress in beige and white layers and lace, so I never really understood how they came to be associated with mori...either way, I much prefer their looks now...
(Also, the mori girl live journal community moved to Facebook, it's still active.)
Thank you, you said it so well that in the end I quoted you. I hope you don't mind! Also, I should have known that the live journal community moved to fb, but I don't like facebook so much, so I didn't follow them and I ended up forgetting about it.
To tell the truth, I like dressing up as an older woman (both japanese and italian) still looking young :D+
And yes, from early-to-mid-twenty personal style changes a lot, I see it on myself.
I agree about our syle and that of Yu Aoi and the others, it's quite strange!
comunque non è l'unico stile che sta sparendo, anche il gyaru sta scomparendo e magazine come egg in teoria sono già chiusi o chiuderanno. l'unico stile che va sempre forte è il lolita, ma soprattutto perchè viene mantenuto dalle varie community in giro per il mondo e anche perchè assorbe e rielabora un pò tutte le varie tendenze. Se non altro il mori è facile da vestire anche con abiti off brand e reperibili in italia.
@Chiave: ma anche il mori esiste ancora in giro per il mondo, anche il gyaru (compresi stili defuntissimi in madrepatria come il mamba), il punto è che non sono stili vitali, le riviste chiudono, i negozi pure (per il gyau penso meno). E non percepisco niente di grosso pronto a prenderne il posto. E' più che altro questo che mi preoccupa.
Yes, I think you're right, mori has been dead in Japan for a long time. I think it's sad, but at the same time, fashion moves on. People get older and need to be more practical. I don't wear the same fashions that I wore at University or before I had a job.
Mori as a lifestyle though is a different thing. I think that many people are still doing mori things, just not calling themselves mori anymore. At least, I hope so!
xx Katie.
@Cat: yes, you're right, but it's kind of sad when a style you love disappear.
I live in Japan and so I have seen it firsthand. Many fashion styles are falling in Japan and it seems most stores now are selling the standard pop-trend/mainstream clothes. Shimamura and Avail used to sell some niche fashion style clothes but now they sell really boring mainstream stuff now, filled with plaid shirts, plain tshirts, and so on. At least Axes Femme still keeps with their style, I know its mostly otome kei but there are stuff that are mori-able.
I also am very dissapointed in WonderRocket for ditching their forest look. I remember visiting WonderRocket store in Harajuku in 2012 back when they still were Mori-kei and I regret not buying stuff I seen in there back then. About 2 years before gyaru fell as well, well there is still gyaru type clothes but the gyaru makeup look and gyaru magazines dissappeared just like how the Mori magazines are gone. Now I don't even bother looking at the fashion magazines here in Japan because its all mostly mainstream boring stuff since most niche style magazines are gone. I am surprised Gothic&Lolita Bible and Kera can survive since I notice a huge decline in lolitas in Japan as well. I now only look at Mooks which are gift magazines. Fashion wise things are less fun now in Japan but at least there are still brands that keep their styles.
@Anonimo: thank you for your insight, it was really useful and interesting!!!
I think lolita survives thanks to the overseas attention, can it be?
I still find japanese style more interesting than italian style, but I hope it will regain some vitality!
I know wonder rocket has not been mori for a long time now, even though they did still sell a few mori-able items like embroidered flower stuff but I tried to go on wonder rocket's web shop and its currently down with a statement message in Japanese stating they are changing the brand's name to boyholic and tomorrow it will officially be their new name. Something tells me they are straying even farther from mori by changing the name or this is to fully get rid of their association with mori and their past by making a new name, boyholic sounds like "addicted to boys" which sounds like a stupid mainstream name. For this new year looks like things are still trending to mainstream in Japan and everyone is trying to emulate forever21 and h&m.
That's so sad! I didn't know about that, I didn't visit their site in a long time.Thank you for letting me know the news. Mori (and originality) is dying more and more...
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