Decora fashion is a sub-genre of J-fashion (Japanese fashion) which originated as street fashion in the mid 90’s and included maximalistic detail like stacked bracelets, hairclips, layered bracelets, keychains, belts, pins, layering clothes, and more. There are three general rules about Decora fashion: layering clothes, maxing out accessories, and having fun with it. Decora fashion is very broad, has multiple subcategories, and is meant for expressing yourself.
Decora falls under the umbrella term of “Harajuku fashion.” This term refers to a city, Harajuku, which is also the birthplace of several other J-fashions. Decora originated in the late 90s, with inspirations from Fruits magazine, 80s/90s cartoons, DIY, rebellion against societal and fashion norms, and Tomoe Shinora. Tomoe Shinora was a television personality who wore colorful, bright, and an extravagant amount of accessories. She’s a big influence on Decora fashion because she inspires the fashion as a whole and garners more people to get into Decora fashion. She has inspired a different kind of fashion, called “Shinora Fashion,” which means you were directly inspired by or are trying to look like Tomoe. While the terms are separate, you can still dress in both Decora and Shinora styles.
When you search the term “Decora fashion,” you’ll most likely see people in bright neons–often rainbows. However, you don’t need to have a rainbow color scheme to wear Decora. Many people choose to wear more natural or muted color pallets, like pastels, browns, or monochromatic scales, or even just one color. You can even theme the outfit around something, whether that be your favorite character or celebrity, a book, plants, or other themes.
Online supporters of this fashion include Cybr.grl, Dinodining, Toy baby, Atomic Laundy, Maddie/LuckyTacky, and much more. Some of these creators have even started their own clothing brands. For example, Cybr.glr started Candy Trap, and Maddie started LuckyTacky (while doing so, Maddie invented a new subcategory called “Dualcora,” which is split clothing, one side being bright and colorful, while the other is black and white).While there are no certain types of Decora fashion, the first thing that comes to mind is likely typical rainbow Decora. However, it is also known to be able to mix with other styles of fashion such as kidcore, 2020 alt, Y2K scene emo, clowncore, and raver/DJ culture. Some of the main themes on the Decora wiki fandom page are listed as: Dark Decora, Hadeko, monochromatic, Duelcora, Fairy-kei, Decora Lolita, Oshi Decora, and Cyber Decora.
While the fashion has been around since the 90s, it gained traction and popularity in the mid 2010’s and early 2020’s. In fact, during quarantine, a fashion called “2020 alt,” previously known as “E-kid” or “bunny hat kid” fashion, drew direct inspiration from Decora, including the aspects of layered clothing, accessories, and wild makeup.
