According to Kaichiro Morikawa, a Japanese architect and academic, characters with physical defects before "Evangelion" and Rei Ayanami were rare, such as Char Aznable in "Mobile Suit Gundam", who has a scar on his forehead, and Princess Kushana in "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind". Justin Wu also noticed that, after the success of the series, the bandages gained great popularity, becoming the trademark of the character and a common feature in cosplays. Japanese band Rey derived its name from her. Singer and guitarist Motoo Fujiwara wrote the lyrics of the song "Arue" taking inspiration from Rei, with the English title "R.A." inspired by the initials letter of her name. Famous artists have produced fan art about her, including Okama, Huke, Hiroya Oku and Arina Tanemura. Celebrities paid tribute to Rei cosplaying her, including Shoko Nakagawa, Natsuki Katō, Miu Nakamura, Yuuri Morishita, Umika Kawashima, Rio Uchida, Kokoro Shinozaki and Shōma Uno. During Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 English model Jourdan Dunn wore a dress similar to the character's plugsuit; Gainax only learned about the outfit from the Internet and was perplexed by the situation. Rei's image appeared on a shirt of a character from the "Veronica's Closet" series. According to "Vogue", her plugsuit also inspired a piece of clothing for the spring 2016 line by the fashion house Louis Vuitton.