When does Personal Style become a "Kei" ?

>>9201544
imo:
needs to start in Japan to get the -kei suffix
needs to have a name
needs to have defined rules and/or aesthetics
needs to be worn regularly by at least 10 other people

>>9201553
Does it matter if the trend is "artificial" or not? There was some evidence in the Genderless Kei thread that the trend was engineered on purpose to promote an art book and boy band. It then took off on the streets, but it's origins weren't "organic".

>>9201544
You can use kei for things other than fashion styles, so just because something is ''a kei'' doesn't make it a fashion style. It's sometimes used to describe a trend, it can be used as a promo/buzz word to promote something, music styles can be ''a kei'' (tanbi kei, oshare kei etc). There may be other uses but I don't speak Japanese.

>>9201580
So it's a word that denotes something is part of a grouping, a movement or something shared by more then one person, then?

>>9201585
Yep, kei translates to system or group, and it's usage goes well beyond clothing.

What would be a really good example of something that is mis-laybeled as a Kei or a situation where you shouldn't try to apply Kei to it?

There's a youtuber, pixlocks, who has a unique style she called "party kei" or something like that. It seems like she gets a lot of backlash for trying to slap the word "kei" on there where as if she just wore her clothes without trying to label it no one would bother her.

I think the only criteria that ever mattered was that the -kei achieved some critical mass of followers. Soon as there's enough people who acknowledge it's a -kei, it's a -kei. Otherwise you're not really going to have enough data points to file or search for anyway. Defined rules are great and all, but what it really takes is again for some critical mass of followers to agree on the rules and adopt them.

That would explain the reaction to party-kei, probably seemed to everyone else this girl had a huge ego if she thought she was big enough to have enough followers/fans that wanted to emulate what she was wearing to the point it can become a fashion movement.

Insofar as dodgy origins and engineered -keis go, I still have no idea what the real origin behind the name "Lolita" is, "Larme kei" is solely based on what seems like a handful of models and brands and one magazine, morigirl only got its kickstart after Spoon did a morigirl special, dolly-kei is centred on grimoire brand, etc., etc.. I don't think engineered origins matter much if you're trying to figure out whether something is a -kei or not, though it certainly makes for an interesting story later on.

>>9201580
Just want to throw this out there, but the two "music styles" you listed are just two different looks of visual kei. They bands don't play "kei" music, it's normally different genres of rock or metal.
Example: Two oshare kei styled bands are LM.C and Smileberry, but their music is very different.

File: image.jpg (217KB, 429x572px) Image search: [Google]

217KB, 429x572px

>>9201846
>LM.C is oshare

LM.C is too inconsistent in their image to label

>>9201852
maya's image has changed so much over the years and it completely throws me each time I see newer pictures of him. Holy fuck.

>>9201590
>a unique style
She just wears ugly pastel clothing and party store accessories. Her recent "party kei" lookbook is not cohesive at all and looks awful.

>>9201858
>maya wasn't always a wannabe edgelord

anon

pls

>>9201557
visual kei as we know it is artificial as fuck. dir en grey were so happy to break free from their marketing-based visual kei image. but that doesn't mean fans inspired by gimmicky public images are fake, even if the bands they mimic are manufactured and over-produced.

sometimes memes come true.

So current me if I'm wrong here, but it sounds like...

Visual Kei = Artificial origins and heavily marketed
Cult Party Kei = Organic but fell apart in Japan and mostly became visible on the international stage
Fairy Kei = Organic, loose enough to carry on and appeal to many / change with the trends
Larme Kei = Dependent of the publication
Ganguro = From street fashion but is now being pushed through Black Diamond to make a comeback
Mori Girl = Dead in Japan, alive internationally

>>9203502
Fairy kei is dead in japan

>>9203509
Yeah nut it was basically resurrected as yumekawaii

>>9203513
*but

>>9203502
You forgot otome kei which is only a style on its own in the West

>>9203513
But that's not fairy kei.

So maybe...
Fairy Kei evolved into Yumekawaii?

Also...
Otome Kei was created in the west and has a strong base, so maybe that one deifies the "has to start in Japan" notion?

>>9205611
>>9203513
I really can't tell the diference between fairy kei and yumekawaii. I don't see the so called dark dreams and fairytales inspiration. It really looks like fairy kei 2.0 for me.
I know I'm wrong though, so I wish it was explained better to me.

>>9205628
I don't understand Yumekawaii but what I do know is that Menhera sort of does the "tonal shift" or "contrast of subject" by sticking with kawaii art style and pastels but then the actual subject matter is really dark and twisted if you contemplate it.

>>9203502
I don't really understand "artificial vs organic," but VK is originally just 80's hair metal and developed differently after so many years. Also, Black Diamond is called a kuro gyaru group, not exactly ganguro.

Is shironuri still popular at all?

>>9205682
It was never popular but it's still a thing

>>9205611
But otome is just lumping together the style of a few different Japanese brands. The aesthetic did start in Japan, it's just an umbrella term for a few different brand's styles that are worn together in the West.

>>9205687
Which is called girly style or lolita in japan

>>9205628
>dark dreams
That's mostly refering to the "sick" makeup that's been popular for a while now. In general yumekawaii is just an umbrella term for pastel kawaii fashion in general.

>>9205695
Try labeling a JM suit with an a-line skirt as lolita in the west and see what kind of response you get, even before otome came up as a thing.