Visual Kei

Taken from Wikipedia

Visual Kei, (ヴィジュアル系, vijuaru kei; literally “visual style”), refers to a movement in Japanese rock which started in the 1980s and became widely popular in Japan by the 1990s.

Visual Kei is characterised by bands using dramatic costumes and visual imagery to enhance the band’s performance. Within Japan, the fan-base almost solely consists of girls and young women and is marketed strongly to that audience with items such as tradeable stickers, glossy photo-books, picture-postcards of band members and so on. In other countries, the comparatively small quantity of Visual Kei followers is roughly an equal division between male and female youth. Visual Kei is often focused upon in the West as a uniquely Japanese part of the Rock music scene.

Members of Visual Kei bands often wear striking makeup, style their hair in dramatic shapes (reminiscent of “glam metal” bands from the ‘80s) and wear elaborate costumes. Although the vast majority of the musicians are male, band members will often wear makeup and clothing which would be considered ‘feminine’ or ‘androgynous’. Recently, some bands are returning to the more colourful and “fantastic” image popular 5 or 6 years ago, taking inspiration from computer roleplaying games and anime. The appeal of the costumes to fans is so great that large numbers of girls will cosplay as members of their favourite bands, particularly in Harajuku, at live concerts in Japan, or in Poland, North America, Chile, Spain and Australia at anime conventions.