Larme-kei Brands ♥

Hello dollies! In my last post about Larme, I gave a general overview of the fashion. However, I understand that it can be difficult to dress for it because of loose the "rules" are! Therefore, I will be recommending "larme brands" in this post, so that people can get a better idea of what each magazine might feature. I won't be posting all of them, or even the most well-known ones, since a lot of the biggest brands cater to other jfashions and might confuse those who are new to larme-kei. So, in this post will be just a few that really stick to the larme aesthetic 90-100% of the time.

A larme brand is, most often, a brand that is featured in Larme magazine. However, not every brand featured in the magazine is always "larme kei". Confusing, right? Well, I've identified three 'types' of brands included in the magazine to make it a bit easier.

The first type are 'seasonal brands'. Since the magazine tries to keep up with trends, it might often incorporate other brands that do not necessarily follow the style simply because some items might fit the trend AND the magazine's personal aesthetic. I call these 'seasonal brands' since they appear depending on the season and it's trends, and usually includes himekaji and onee gyaru brands such as Liz Lisa, Ank Rouge, and Cecil McBee, to name a few.

The second 'type' are 'ad brands', which can often overlap with 'seasonal brands'. Because it's such a popular magazine, there are brands who buy lots of ad space in order to promote their collections and may even collaborate with the magazine to produce specific pieces or collections. However, they do not necessarily fit the magazine's aesthetic 100%. These brands are usually Swankiss and Amavel, with Liz Lisa overlapping most commonly. These aren't all of them, of course!

Finally, there are 'larme brands', which are the ones who follow the magazine's aesthetic and trends season after season. I will only be discussing these, as you can shop there at any time and expect to mostly (or only) find "larme kei" clothing.

It's quite confusing, isn't it? Well, once you follow the magazine for a few issues, you can easily notice which brands are what. Also, remember that Larme magazine features many, many different brands, and you can often find larme-kei clothing in many other brands that aren't in the magazine as well! Larme-kei is highly adaptive, so even if you purchase clothing from an "ad brand", "seasonal brand", or even a completely unrelated brand, you may still be able to incorporate it if it has the "larme" aesthetic!

Now, onto the brands themselves♥~ Links to their website will be included in the name!

Katie

Katie follows the larme-kei aesthetic in most of their collections but with a focus on vintage looks, and it is often featured in every Larme issue! It definitely has the dolly/sweetheart feeling, and it doesn't often stray from the common larme-kei color palettes of muted pastels or black and white. This year's collections were modeled by popular larme model Risa Nakamura as well! 

Mon Lily

One of the brands sold by popular rakuten shop DreamV, Mon Lily has slowly become known as a Larme brand and are gaining popularity due to their accessible prices! They even describe themselves as a Larme brand, and are often featured in the magazine. They focus on the more mismatched and odd shaped look of Larme, and most of what they produce is in muted pastels, or black and white.

Crayme

This is popular model Yui Kanno's brand! She's done collaborations with Liz Lisa, but she finally created her own line of clothing. At the moment it's pretty new, but everything released fits with Larme's aesthetic and it's been advertised in the magazine. Like Mon Lily, she appears to focus on odd shapes, and tends to mix textures a lot (ex. knit cardigan with a dress that has tulle).

HONEY MI HONEY

This brand follows the trends that the magazine puts out, but it often covers all sides of larme-kei, be it a more childish appeal, or a more mature look. It mixes and matches fabrics and textures (ex. denim and satin), and provides some colors and prints that aren't so common in larme-kei.

Verybrain

Now, Verybrain is a boutique, so they sometimes carry other brands. However, the clothing they do carry tends to fit the more mature and darker larme-kei look that Risa Nakamura often wears on her own.

Honey Cinnamon 

This brand is produced by former SKE48 member and current Larme model Kanako Hiramatsu. We can definitely see that it follows larme-kei trends, though it focus on the sweeter/whimsical side of the fashion with bright color palettes and cuter motifs such as hearts and frills!

Because of the magazine's popularity, many popular clothing brands that cater to other substyles are attempting to imitate it's style in order to keep up with the trends. Therefore, this list is only of some brands that tend to follow the larme-kei aesthetic the majority of the time, rather than an absolute list of where you should absolutely buy. This is a bit repetitive, but I just love how larme-kei is so adaptive and unique, so I want to make that clear!

That being said, I hope this post helps you in finding larme-kei clothing, or provides some inspiration♥! 

for reading!