Yu Aoi collaborates with Journal Standard

Months ago, Yu Aoi collaborated with Japanese fashion label Journal Standard and launched a special collection. As regular readers will know, Yu Aoi is the favourite actress of many mori girls. The collection showcases her personal style--gentle, quirky, but never cloying or overly sweet.

Tshirt, lace collar and rolled-up chinos. An unexpected pairing, but somehow the effect is very nice.

This is my favourite item in the collection. What a glorious dress!

This translucent lace top worn with checked pants gives us a boyish take on a usually ultra-feminine material.

 

This orange jumpsuit with beaded belt is very spunky.

Cuffed boyfriend jeans in a variety of candy colours. Love this look!

While this collection may not be for everyone, I love how Yu Aoi is taking risks and lending a unique touch to the clothes and styling. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Image source: Baycrew's

Related posts:
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Yu Aoi in Anan
Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010
Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi
Top 20 mori girls
Yu Aoi is Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover
Yu Aoi in Spoon

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Yu Aoi in Jille

Just a quick post to share some pictures of Yu Aoi in the November 2011 issue of Japanese magazine Jille. The theme of the photoshoot is boy's style, and the baggy layers are quite reminiscent of mori girl style. She carries off the boyish clothing perfectly. There's something about her. I would never use the word "girly" on her, yet her face radiates feminity in a very earthy, natural way.

Image source: Jille

Related posts:
Yu Aoi collaborates with Journal Standard
Yu Aoi in Anan
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Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi
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Yu Aoi in Anan

Just thought I'd share another photoshoot featuring Aoi Yu, this time from Japanese magazine Anan. It seems like her star has really risen alongside the increasing popularity of the mori girl aesthetic.

What sweet outfits! I love the relaxed yet tidy proportions.

The relaxed-fit clothing Yu Aoi is frequently seen in suits her perfectly. Even though these outfits can't be described as baggy by any measure, they retain a breezy, comfortable feel.

Related posts:
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Yu Aoi in Jille
Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010
Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi
Top 20 mori girls
Yu Aoi as Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover live action movie
Yu Aoi in Spoon

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Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010

It's easy to see why Yu Aoi is a shoo-in for the mori girl title. From her quirky film choices to her whimsical persona, Yu Aoi doesn't seem to inhabit the same mundane world we sometimes feel trapped in. The first half of her most recent photo shoot in Japanese fashion magazine Pretty Style is otherworldly indeed.

Streetwear has never looked quite so ethereal. Yu Aoi manages to make even the baggiest of silhouettes look delicate.

I'm loving the first outfit. The scarf wrapped all around the neck, the amorphous dress and the white sneakers--perfect!

In the second half of the photo shoot, Yu comes back to earth--but oh, what a winsome, charming earth it seems to be!

Watching a movie alone in an old theatre and waiting for someone at the station.

Waiting at the cinema beside a bucket of popcorn and good old grocery shopping.

We too should begin ferreting out charming little moments in our everyday lives.

Related posts:
Yu Aoi collaborates with Journal Standard
Yu Aoi in Jille
Yu Aoi in Anan
Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi
Top 20 mori girls
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Yu Aoi in Spoon

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Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi

Over the next few weeks I will post pictures of Japanese celebrities who have been identified as mori girls. The first is an actress many of you will be familiar with if you've been following this blog. Yu Aoi (蒼井優) was born on 17 August 1985 and is an accomplished actress known for her roles as displaced, sensitive characters. She was also identified in a poll as the celebrity most representative of the mori girl subculture. She never looks like she has any makeup on and always seems to be wearing interesting clothing. I admit I've been a big fan of Yu's for a quite while now! Her onscreen persona is just so off-kilter yet strangely inspiring. She's the girl we think we really are deep down.

Taken from her photo books Travel Sand, Dandelion and Portugirl respectively.

 

Stills from one of her latest films, One Million Yen and the Nigamushi Woman (otherwise known as One Million Yen Girl), in which she plays a girl who leaves home and wanders around different towns doing odd jobs until she's saved one million yen.

Yu as the star of the drama Osen.

Sporting a look similar to Hagu's in Honey and Clover in an ad for Canon.

A shoot she did for mori girls' favourite magazine, Spoon.

Yu in a shoot for Nylon Korea.

She's also an awesome ballet dancer.

I just had to include this. It's a breathtaking scene from Hana and Alice (which I highly recommend) in which Yu shows off her ballet skills. The entire soundtrack was composed by director Shunji Iwai. (If you want to get the DVD on Amazon why not get it from my affiliate link?)

Yu always seems to get roles in these thought-provoking, artsy little films. Can't wait to see what she'll appear in next!

Related posts:

Yu Aoi collaborates with Journal Standard

Yu Aoi in Jille

Yu Aoi in Anan

Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010

Top 20 mori girls

Yu Aoi as Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover live action movie
Yu Aoi in Spoon

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Top 20 mori girls

Several people have posted about this before, but I thought I'd just reiterate what others have said for the sake of completeness. Goo conducted a poll on Japanese celebrities who could best be classified as mori girls, and three of my favourite Japanese actresses made it into the top three!

#1: Almost half the voters selected Yu Aoi (蒼井優) as the #1 mori girl. She is undeniably the face of the mori girl trend. I've loved Yu ever since I saw her in All About Lily Chou-Chou, and she just keeps growing as an actress. In an industry where girls struggle to outdo each other in terms of cuteness, Yu Aoi is refreshingly earthy and natural. She's got an indie sensibility that is reflected in her unique style and image. Her most typically mori girl role has been Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover, but really, in most of her films she portrays individualistic, quirky girls.

#2: The adorable Aoi Miyazaki (宮崎あおい). This girl has the cutest face I've ever seen. You may have seen her as the irrepressible Hachi in Nana. While I wouldn't say she has as mori girl a look as Yu Aoi, she is often photographed in cute, loose, layered outfits. Her role as a quirky photographer in Heavenly Forest has been identified as a mori girl icon.

#3: One of the prettiest young Japanese actresses in my opinion, Juri Ueno (上野樹里) is famous for her scatterbrained, free-spirited character in the Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile.

#4: I admit I don't know much about singer and host Kaela Kimura (木村カエラ). She looks spunky and unique from the pictures, though.

#5: Yuki Isoya (磯谷有希) is a prominent Japanese singer who has been part of several bands. She's got a fun image which belies her age--she was born in 1972. That goes to show that the mori girl subculture isn't restricted to adolescent girls!

#6: Hiromi Nagasaku (永作博美)

#7: Eri Fukatsu (深津絵里)

#8: Chara

 

#9: Aiko Yanai (柳井愛子)

 

#10: UA

#11: Chiaki Ishikawa (石川智晶)

#12: Kumiko Aso (麻生久美)

#13: You

#14: Rie Miyazawa (宮沢りえ)

#15: Mikako Ichikawa (市川実和子)

#16: Tomoko Kawase (川瀬智子)

#16: Miho Tanaka (田中美保)

#16: Ikuko Harada (原田郁子)

#19: Yuko Ando (藤裕子)

#20: Meg

Related posts:

Yu Aoi in Jille

Yu Aoi in Anan

Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010

Featured Mori Girl: Shizuru Shitonaka in Heavenly Forest 

Featured Mori Girl: Yu Aoi

Yu Aoi as Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover live action movie 

Featured Mori Girl: Hagumi Hanamoto from Honey and Clover manga

Yu Aoi in Spoon

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Yu Aoi as Hagumi Hanamoto in Honey and Clover live action movie

Even before the term 'mori girl' was coined, Yu Aoi (a mori girl icon herself) played Hagumi Hanamoto, whose creation by manga artist Chica Umino seems to have foreshadowed the explosion of the mori girl aesthetic.

I read the manga before watching the movie, and I have to say that the casting was fantastic. I thought Hagu would be a difficult character to portray, but Yu Aoi made the role her own. She was every bit as elusive and quietly ethereal as I would imagine Hagu to be in the flesh.

Hagu's wardrobe in the film was delightful as well. Comprised mainly of long dresses worn over brightly coloured tshirts and jeans, the clothing was brightly quirky, yet managed to retain a girlishly bashful feel.

 

This has got to be my favourite dress from the movie. Love the colour combinations and how they styled the same dress a little differently at different parts of the movie.

I wouldn't have thought of pairing a floral sundress with a sporty tshirt like that, but somehow it looks right on Hagu.

Another sporty tshirt-floral dress combo worn over jeans.

This time, Hagu layers a dress over a green tshirt which is in turn layered over a purple long sleeved tshirt. This is something only Yu Aoi could pull off.

One of the floral dresses we saw earlier, this time worn with a red tshirt and pink cardigan.

You can't see it in this picture, but Hagu is actually wearing a below-the-knee dress with black maryjanes. This dress is very Marimekko, don't you think?

Hagu painting cherry blossom trees outside. Notice how even her dress has cherry blossoms all over it!

Few other actresses could have pulled off these clothes. Yu Aoi's natural and thoroughly unpretentious air makes her look at ease in the quirkiest of outfits.

If you want to watch the Honey and Clover live action movie, getting it from my affiliate link would make me really happy!

Related posts:
Yu Aoi collaborates with Journal Standard
Yu Aoi in Jille
Yu Aoi in Anan
Yu Aoi in Pretty Style May 2010
Top 20 mori girls

Featured mori girl: Hagumi Hanamoto from Honey and Clover manga
Yu Aoi in Spoon

Read more »