A Distant Love for Fairy Kei

With its airy, floaty pastels, cutesy imagery, and fun feel, it's no wonder that fairy kei is as popular as it is.The aesthetic appeals to a wide audience: people who like a lot of light colors, people who like playing with accessories and stacking them on, and even bloggers who run pastel-themed blogs.

Fairy Kei is a Japanese street fashion focused around pastels and soft fabrics, motifs from the 80's (think Care Bears, or the old My Little Pony), and DIY. It has a fantasy like element, and I have to say, I am enthralled by it.

I already love vintage clothes, especially those with vintage cartoons on them, and fairy kei puts these old shows through a filter and they come out as lovely pastels. The re-purposing of older clothes is also something that is easily enjoyable; it's great that a popular fashion utilizes re-using as one of its main tenements.

Even more, I love leg warmers (though not in lolita fashion), which are used in fairy kei. I'm not quite sure why, but pastel leg warmers have a direct line to my heart, especially if they're made of a soft material. What better way to stay toasty than with something utterly cute?

Fairy kei is also a lot more lenient when it comes to structure and style than lolita, which can be a nice break from worrying about how many petticoats you have on and whether or not you're covering enough skin.

I was originally introduced to fairy kei via the recommended video section on Youtube. One of Mahou Prince's videos showed up while I was watching lolita unboxings and the colors were so enthralling, I had to watch.

(Mahou Prince's Fairy Kei Transformation video thumbnail)

The adorable (kawaii) aesthetic and dreamy feel appealed to me a lot. And the relaxed structure contributes, I feel, to some truly amazing options for outfits.

Fairy kei meetups also appear to be buckets of fun; without a thousand petticoats and hundred dollar dresses (though I'm sure some fairy kei items are rather expensive), with the option to wear pastel sneakers and hi-tops, comes the option to do a lot more for a meet.

(Photo by Pastel Raindrops)

The meets also literally look like fun, with the bright colors and the adorable outfits, and the cute motifs and patterns.

The playful nature of the fashion is so appealing to me! I don't even know if I can explain it.

If I could, I would drop a fairy kei bomb on my wardrobe and make it rain SPANK! clothing and accessories, and of course I would find the fabled thrifted panda sweatshirt (seen below.) Not to mention the fact that fairy kei clothes would most likely be more comfortable than lolita! Not to drag on lolita, of course, but even just a headbow can give me a headache in ten minutes flat. It would be nice to get to wear a pastel baseball cap or something!

Despite my love for the fashion, I've never been able to get into it. I just can't seem to amass enough pastel clothes to make even one outfit! And even if I did, I think I prefer ogling the pictures I see online. To me it's a fantasy dream fashion that is really fun to look at, but not one that I could do myself. I have this sort of mental block where making busy, layered outfits is a challenge for me, and that makes fairy kei challenging.

If I spent enough time and effort on making a fairy kei outfit I am certain I could master it, but for now I'll be on the sidelines, admiring my fairy kei fashion icons and absolutely loving the melty, pastel, fun fashion that is fairy kei.