Fairy Kei, also known as Pop Kei, is a Japanese street fashion characterized by its use of light pastel colors and 80s reminiscent motifs. The style originally took off with the establishment of a vintage boutique by Tabuchi. The boutique simply contained clothing, accessories, and items that were reminiscent of her childhood and 80s aesthetics.
Commonly used clothing articles often consist of lightweight oversized shirts, thick oversized sweaters, patterned tights, fluffy or patterned skirts, and the usage of light variations of colors such as pink, blue, lavender, and rainbow. Motifs and patterns that often appear in Fairy Kei are polka dots, moons, stars, rainbows, and 80s franchises or toys.
Though there aren't many retail shops that cater to Fairy Kei, the majority of Fairy Kei-centric shops are small businesses, even within the United States (these are often online-only shops). The reason being that Fairy Kei accessories and clothes are often handmade, or pulled from second-hand stores, for authentic 80s clothing. Due to this DIY factor, after the fashion began to fall in popularity in 2017, Fairy Kei shops that profited from handmade goods, such as Swimmer, had to be permanently closed.
Despite the decreasing popularity of Fairy Kei, countries foreign to Japan have taken a liking to the fashion since 2014, and online communities for the fashion are continuing to thrive.
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