Many people use the phrase "visual kei" for the first time. And if the first part of this short phrase can be translated independently, getting from the depths of the subconscious primitive knowledge of English, then with the mysterious kei things are much worse. And all because you need to move not in English, but in the Japanese direction. It was Japan in the 80s of the last century that became the birthplace of a specific musical genre, based on glam rock, metal and punk rock. This musical direction was called visual kei, which literally means "visual style". Its meaning is to convey to the listener a piece of his soul, not only through music, but also through the visible, as a rule, shocking view of the artist. After all, it is characterized by unusual make-up, complex hairstyles, bright costumes and androgynous aesthetics - mixing of the female and masculine in one image.
Unusual subculture
Today the once unique musical genre is more than just music, today it is a whole subculture of visual kei, formed primarily by the numerous fans of bands working in this direction. Youth belonging to this subculture, calls itself visual kid. The style of the visual kei is often based on images borrowed from other branches of a peculiar Japanese culture: animation - anime, fine art - manga, and video games. To date, the style of visual kei has gone a long way of evolution, resulting in its graduation into separate classes and species. Among them, there are about 15-20 of the largest categories, which can both vary significantly, and borrow from each other certain external signs.
Dress properly
In view of such a variety, it is rather difficult to determine what kind of clothing visual kei is traditional for this style. But still let's dig a little in the wardrobes of the visual kids. So, if we are talking about Oshare kei - a fashionable and elegant visual substructure, then its adherents are young, overflowing with optimism, people dressed according to all the rules of Japanese glamorous street fashion. Their clothes are dominated by bright and colorful colors - mostly pink, blue and yellow shades. As for the dresses themselves, it can be dresses, skirts, jeans with t-shirts or T-shirts. Accessories are all kinds of hair clips, bows, caps, beads and scarves.
Kote kei , on the other hand, is a darker style similar to the Gothic style, where black tones predominate in costumes, as well as a heavy combination of leather and metal.
Nagoya kei is another subset of the style, the distinctive feature of which is the wearing of dark, but more restrained in terms of cut and detail costumes.
Speaking about the clothes of the visual style, it is impossible not to mention Kotekote kei . Perhaps, representatives of this trend were one of the most extraordinary and memorable to the viewer. Groups Kotekote kei hit with costumes made of leather and latex, corsets, boots on a very large platform and a huge number of accessories.
Concluding the image
As you can see, the clothes of the participants of this Japanese subculture are quite diverse, unusual and provocative. But in all images of visual kids there is something that makes them all full members of a unique youth movement. These unifying elements are hairstyles and makeup.
Visual kei hairstyles are a challenge to modern hairdressing. These are unimaginable shapes and flashy colors: red, pink, orange, purple or blue, although there are among all this variegated and ordinary light, as well as black heads. A non-standard approach is different and visual makeup. Its main requirement is a strongly whitened face, on which juicy lips and bright, dark eyes are clearly distinguished.
This is such a bright and mysterious world of visual kei, which is spreading beyond the bounds of native Japan.
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