Fairy Kei Tips

Fairy-kei is a candy-coated, marshmallow rainbow-covered delicious arrival in Japanese fashion. As Miseducated and SPANK! often do, it features the cute characters and motifs of the 80s: My Little Pony, Care Bears, Popples, Barbie, etc. The palettes favored seem to be all soft, light hues of the 80s marshmallow rainbow. Fairy-kei uses as many as 6 colors in an outfit, but don’t be too hasty with color — make sure that each of the colors balance each other out. Colors you use should be used at least one other time in the outfit, usually, to add icing on the cake and to tie it all together. Think bows, beads, accessories and pompoms.

 Look through any old stuff you kept or stored and see what treasures you can find! It’s like new but has more meaning attached. If you can’t find any try ebay, flea markets and thrift stores for marshmallow rainbow 80s goods.

Found some cute 80s fabric but the item is shot? Patch it onto a tee, add some glitter. Don’t wait for your favorite new t-shirt, make it!

Tutus! They’re easy to find these days and very easy to make. You can make your tutu as simple or as decadent as you like; they’re all sweet when paired with a tee.

Pompons, bows, tulle — all in the marshmallow rainbow of fairy-kei — think of making yarn into large pompons for hair and keychains, smaller ones for other accessories

A big pastel sweater with an alternating color of hair bow. Think big and ridiculously cute! Keep it simple if you like with a black tutu and flats, you can be Fairy-kei inspired without going over the top.

Hunt up bright candy colored socks, try Socks Dreams.

A lot of fairy-kei is making your own pieces. Vintage fabrics can be turned into dresses, skirts, etc.

Tiny plushies or keychains in your favorite style look sweet pinned on big, slouchy candy-colored hobo bags.

Look around ordinary mall stores like Charlotte Russe or Forever 21 for accessories or even t-shirts. Just keep a focus on the color palette and general motifs to know what’s useful. I found my My Little Pony shirt from delia’s for only $12!

For fusion fairy-kei lolita, it’s important to keep the bell-shaped silhouette. You can buy skirts with the right color schemes, like Angelic Pretty’s Colorful Hearts, or you can make your own. Usually over-the-top sweet items are a good base for fairy-kei fusion, simple appliques, or polka dots.

Go vintage shopping for things like 80s childrens’ sweatshirts or crazy hairbows and headbands. You can also look on eBay or 80s_cuties on Livejournal. Some Japanese shops for cute things like Doki Doki 6% and Chocomint can have fairy-kei type things too.