Decora Kei Guide

What is Decora?

Decora (デコラ) is a japanese street fashion. The word decora comes from the word decoration since the style consists of decorating your whole outfit basically.

Substyles

Decora has four main styles:

• Pink Decora

As its names suggests, it centers around a pink outfit.

• Dark Decora

As its names suggests, it revolves around dark colours (usually mixed with pink or red), while still presenting all the characteristics of decora.

• Lolidecora

It is a mix of both lolita and decora fashion.

• Rainbow decora

As its name suggests, it centers around using many colours (like a rainbow) for your outfit.

Eras

Decora has evolved through the years, I would classify them in four categories:

• 90s Decora

This era was seen a lot in FUiTS magazine. It was characterized by its use of different silhouettes, many layers and patterns. People still did not tend to use many hairclips or bracelets.

• 2000s Decora

As decora started to be better known internationally, more people started wearing it. This decora era is characterized by the use of patterns like polka dots (with many layers), more hair clips and colours like pink, red or black (mainly monochromatic). People still used their natural hair colours.

• 2010s Decora

Decora became even more known, and people started to accesorisse even more (as Hadeko style arised) with brighter and mixing colours and dyed hair. Additionally, Decora Meetups became more popular in Harajuku.

• 2020s Decora

Now, people put more focus on accessorising their hair and putting on colourful makeup (I notice this more exaggerated in the Chinese decora community). 

How To Wear Decora?

Decora does not really have many rules to go by, it mainly focuses on accessorising and layering, making it easier (compared to other j-fashions) for begginers to wear. As shown before (with dark decora), it is not neccessary to wear neon or bright colours. I believe decora is differentiated from other colourful styles by its "organized disorganization", so, in order to achieve a "decora look", it should not look like you just mixed every piece of clothing in your wardrobe (lol).

Therefore, given there are not many norms to follow, here are some tips or things to take into account when wearing decora fashion.

• DIY is your friend

You can make Decoden accessories (like glasses, phone case or even shoes) by sticking small toys or charms in them. You can also stick anything you would like (even plushies) to hairclips and shoes, or sew them into your clothes. Additionally, you can drill the top part of a toy and stick those things to make necklaces. Moreover, you can make kandi or rainbow looms bracelets.

• It takes time to get all your dream pieces

It is okay to not have all the pieces someone on social media has, most of the time, it takes years to get as many pieces as you see there. Do not try to buy everything in a short amount of time because, most likely, the fashion will become boring as there is nothing else to pursue.

• Try basing your outfit on a specific piece of clothing or accessory

If you have no idea what to wear, choose a piece of clothing or accessory you like and base your outfit on its colour palette, pattern or shape.

• Thrifting is useful too

Many people believe you can only find good pieces on specific clothing shops, but the truth is that thrifting is also a place where you can find many unique accessories or clothes for a cheaper price.

• Experiment with hairstyles and makeup

There are many tutorials on Youtube or the internet in general to learn new and different makeup and hair styles. This also helps with getting out of your comfort zone and get to try something new you may like.

• Go to party supply stores and the kids section (for accessories)

In the costume section of party supply stores, there are many things that you would not find in normal clothing stores (although the quality is usually not the best, be careful about that). Likewise, in the kids section you can find many hairclips, rings and necklaces that are also hard to find in your average clothing store.

Decora Misconceptions

Like many other j-fashions, decora has its own things people tend to misunderstand.

• You do not need blunt bangs to wear hairclips

There are some people who choose to get side bangs or even no bangs at all (and, yes, you can put hairclips on with curly hair).

• It is not necessary to wear a bunch of hairclips

Like during the 90s, some people decide not to wear any hairclips, which can still fit in the style as long as you "decorate" other parts of the outfit.

• You can keep your natural hair colour

As shown in other images, you do not need to dye you hair pink or any other bright colour to be decora.

• You can wear makeup

I do not know why, but there are many places on the internet saying people who wear decora do not put on any makeup at all in order to resemble childhood, which is not the case at all. If you like makeup, do it!

• You can wear decora at any age

Although there are many young people wearing decora, that does not mean it is exclusively for us. As long as you like wearing it, you should!

• It is not necessary to fit into a certain substyle

I believ most of the people who wear decora do not fit into a specific substyle, so do not feel pressured to fit into one.

• You do not need to wear colorfull pieces all the time

As shown with dark decora, decora is not really about the colours, so feel free to wear any colour palette you like.

I think that is all, I hope you guys learned something because this took me a long time lmao. If any of you have any question or suggestion, feel free to leave it in the comments =)