How to Dress Visual Kei

Find a store that sells Visual Kei clothing. There are plenty of online stores that sell Visual clothing - but beware of bad quality clothes, check the store reviews first! If there's one near you, you might be able to find great accessories in Hot Topic or another "alternative" shop like it.

Dark clothing is always in fashion! Lots of Visual Kei stars dress in neons and loud colours and patterns, so don't feel that you can never wear bright colours again (quite the opposite!) but a monochrome outfit, or an outfit mostly made of black pieces with a splash of a bright colour like red, blue or orange as an accent nearly always looks stylish and pulled together.

Plaid, stripes, lace, webbed patterns and skull motifs are very popular. But Visual Kei is a very anything-goes fashion so long as it keeps to the 'cool punk' feel of the look. Plaid skirts or plaid patches on tops are very cute for girly Visual Kei wearers! Stripy tops, either horizontal or vertical, are stylish and versatile for any look, so it's always worth having one. Lace is more often connected with the Lolita subculture, but it can add some really interesting texture to a Visual-kei outfit, so long as it isn't cheap and scratchy. Cobweb fabrics are also very cool - it's dark, spooky and reminiscent of the very sought-after brand Alice Auaa's signature cobweb material. You don't have to limit yourself to just these, either - as well as skulls, crowns and crosses, anything with a spooky, grotesque, or OTT adorable look to it, depending on your outfit, will work really well.

Wear your clothes loose enough to move around comfortably in. Although skinny jeans never go out of style in Visual Kei, make sure you have enough freedom of movement to dance! Your top or T-shirt shouldn't be tight either, especially if your trousers are tight too; the up-and-down fitted look isn't really a part of the fashion. Don't make it so baggy that it looks like it doesn't fit you unless it's actually meant to look that way, though.

Don't be afraid to mix and match different styles! Visual Kei borrows hugely from all kinds of other fashions like western Goth and Punk, Lolita and historical fashion, so if you have the basics of both styles down and you're confident about making it look good, go for it. How about, for instance, mixing a poofy knee-length plaid skirt with a distressed tank top, platform heels and spiky hair for a great Visual Kei Lolita look?

Your clothes might be the outfit, but it's definitely your accessories that make it. Necklaces, bracelets, studs, chains and belts are all musts for any outfit - even if you're going for a simple look, don't skimp on at least a punky belt and a few rings to pull it all together.

Any shoes that aren't too casual or pretty will go with your outfit! Creepers, platform boots, Doc Martens, winklepickers and engineer boots are all popular choices. For an extra bit of flair, how about wrapping a few chain bracelets around the ankles of your boots?

Dyed hair is always great! If your hair is already a nice colour naturally, or has a great style then it doesn't really need it, but dyeing your hair is fun and makes it that much easier to make your style more polished-looking. Any crazy colour will go down a storm, but it doesn't need to be unnatural; silver, ash blond, dark brown and black are all seen just as much as bright pink or blue. But if you really can't decide on a single colour, how about a split a la Waka from Danger Gang?

Makeup isn't necessary but it's still one of the biggest parts of the style. Especially if you're after a more modern or, for females, androgynous look then you can give it a miss or just go for simple concealer, matte powder and eyeliner - but it's always cool to at least know how to dress it up for special occasions. Look for makeup tutorials and collect lots of pictures of Visual Kei musicians to see how they do it!

It's very rare to see a Visual Kei musician without any piercings. Nose and septum piercings, lip piercings and tongue piercings are all cool, as are any kind of ear piercings. If you don't want to get something permanent done, your work won't let you, or you're too young but you'd still like to have some metalwork, try buying some fake piercings. They're cheap and easily available on sites like eBay.

This is the most important thing to remember. No matter what you're aiming for, Visual Kei is always very carefully coordinated and pulled together. It has to look completely polished and intentional even when it's all ripped up and distressed - that's what separates it from other styles like emo, scene, punk or western goth. If your coordination skills aren't great, just start simple with a few outfits made of items like kilts, skinny jeans, printed tops and cardigans or blazers and a few accessories. Build it up slowly until you feel more confident about complicated outfits. If you don't feel like you can spend hours every day on your hair and makeup, get a low-maintenance, good-looking hair style like a thick mohawk, short hime cut or an undercut that can be drawn up into a teased ponytail, and keep up a good skin routine.

It doesn't matter what people think of you. If you're going into a dangerous area it probably isn't sensible to dress up and draw attention to yourself, but otherwise, try learning to ignore any stares or comments. You look damn cool, so believe it!