Do You Oshare Kei?

Those who live outside Japan or who aren't Japanophiles (people obsessed with Japanese culture) have no idea of what Oshare kei is. They might have a faint idea of what Visual kei is but are totally clueless when it comes to all things Oshare. Well this article is here to educate you.

Oshare means "stylish" or "fashionable". It also means to dress stylishly. It follows Japanese street fashion and is usually modeled by male rock band members but usually is worn by female consumers.

Who started Oshare Kei? I don't know some band from the music scene obviously. Some credit Baroque as the band that started to whole thing.

Oshare kei is the more colorfully eye blinding side of Visual kei. Visual Kei has more of a gothic and depressing type of look while Oshare kei is more colorful, child-ish looking and happier musical tunes. Visual kei has more feminine qualities such as cross-dressing and men behaving like that of a woman but Oshare bands do that regularly too, for example one of my favorite Oshare fashion models is BoU from the band Antic Cafe, I didn't even know that he was a guy when I first saw him.

Thus said, bands under this style live up to the meaning by dressing up in colorful costumes, or in Decora and/or Friuts style. Fruits is a Japanese magazine which features regular people dressed in offbeat street fashions. If there are identifiable themes, they can broadly be described as fun, original, authentic, and the recording of emerging social trends and technology. "You are the best stylist to express yourself".It's so popular that even photo books sell well in the US.

Decora means decorated in Japanese. People who follow the Decora style are usually girls that sport numerous cute hair clips on their hair, have layered colorful clothing and have cute character straps hanging from their necks.

So, many of them are seen sporting massive amounts of jewelry and bags of cartoon characters and animals slung on, tons of hairclips that make you go dizzy because you'd lose count, and lighter make-up compared to Visual kei. The music is more happy sounding, the lyrics lighter and happier.

There aren't that many Oshare kei brands that sell outside Japan including my favorite brand of the all Putumayo. There is an English online store for the brand Sex Pot Revenge but like most things from Japan it's pretty expensive. Another store that I suggest for your Oshare needs is AsiaJam. The prices are reasonable and they ship worldwide.