Music is also heavily inspired by Europe during these eras, with classical elements, and instruments such as harpsichords. Common themes include: churches and other religious imagery, castles, royalty/aristocracy, and roses. Tanbi means ‘aesthetics’, and Tanbi Kei is inspired by Baroque, Rococo, and Victorian era Europe. A common theme was all black outfits for a heavier sound, and contrasting all white outfits for ballads – this is also popular within Tambi Kei.Įxamples: X Japan (early), DIR EN GREY (early), LUNA SEA (early), D (early) Blonde and red were popular hair colours. Bands dress mainly in black, with heavy makeup and big, brightly coloured hair. It isn’t seen as much anymore, although it has definitely influenced other bands and sub-genres as visual kei as a whole has evolved. Also known as old school or traditional visual kei, because it refers to the style worn in the early days of visual kei, from the 1980s to early 90s.

While elements from these styles do appear in visual kei street fashion, you are unlikely to see someone wearing something resembling what bands wear on stage, because those are not designed for everyday wear (usually custom-made, very expensive, and difficult to care for as they often can’t be washed easily).Ībbreviated from kotekote, meaning over the top. Some bands fit into multiple sub-genres, some change sub-genres over the years, and some won’t necessarily fit into any sub-genres at all. A lot of these sub-genres aren’t used in modern visual kei – in most cases, both fans and bands would simply use the term ‘visual kei’, and many prefer to categorise bands by music genres, as visual kei sub-genres are often categorised mostly/entirely by looks, and many bands mix or change styles.Īlso, these sub-genres refer mainly to visual kei bands, rather than visual kei street fashion. One visual kei band could be gothic and play heavy metal, another could be extremely colourful and play pop. A number of sub-genres have appeared over the years to try and define different types of visual kei bands. However, many bands are difficult to put into one sub genre. Visual kei is very diverse, both in terms of style and sound.

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