·:*¨༺ ♱ Visual kei explained ♱ ༻¨*:·

edit: this is from what I know, I'm not an expert but I am really interested in vkei. Please correct me if I say something wrong 

Visual kei is a fashion-based subculture associated with music that emerged in the 80s. The music and fashion are both equally important tho.

ORIGINS

One of the first ever Visual kei bands was X japan, a japanese rock band (1982) inspired by Western glam rock, KISS, David bowie, etc. at the start of their carrier they wore flamboyant clothes, a lot of make up and extremely styled hair. They originally called their fashion style "okesho-kei" (makeup-kei) but seiichi hoshiko, the editor founder of the magazine 'SHOXX' thought it was too 'cheap' to describe them as okesho-kei and later on explained in an interview "they're not okesho kei, they are visual shock kei".The term 'Visual shock kei' naturally became 'Visual kei' and then to 'Vkei'.

THE 90s

They became popular very quickly and inspired other bands such as buck-tick and derlanger in the 80s. Visual kei got extremely popular in the 90s with bands like malice mizer, dir en grey, luna sea, etc. at the time new aesthetics like eroguro and gothic aristocratic were introduced aswell.

THE 2000s

In the 2000s, Visual kei slowly got introduced to the western world (especially among the anime fans and emos). More subgenres emerged again, such as Angura kei (dark & kinda underground), Oshare kei (colorful & pop influenced) and kote kei ('traditional' Vkei)

BAND RECOMMENDATIONS

80s: X japan, Buck-tick, Dead end, D'erlanger, Color, aura

90s: Dir en grey, malice mizer, Lareine, Kagerou, MUCC, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Plastic tree

00s: The gazettE, D, An Cafe, Nightmare, Moi dix mois, Exist trace

10s: DADAROMA, Deviloof, gulu gulu, Mejibray, Jiluka

⤑Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong about anything! ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･