Live, Love, Gyaru

Be Wild and Get Controversial! Since the early days of Gyaru, the style has been known to stir up controversy. Opposing beauty standards was a lot for the very conservative Japanese people at the time, and the rebellion was insane. Little did Gyaru know, they would stir up way more controversy in the following years to come.  Of course, I have talked about sex-work. But did you know there are many Gyaru who partake in racism and blackface? The underlying issues of Gyaru made me think... Is Gyaru racist? Well... Not technically. Gyaru has been stirring up controversy as the "B-Gal" substyle of Gyaru has resurfaced. Not only because the name quite literally means "Black Girl" but because of the racist caricatures made of black people as well as blackface. B-Gyaru in Tokyo The point of B-Gal is to "acknowledge" and "pay homage" to black culture, but I can tell you, as a black girl, that this is SUCH a racist caricature of black culture, I mean serio

  The Undiscussed Rules of Gyaru Hello Babydolls, despite the many amounts of substyles seen in Gyaru, there are many undiscussed rules that older Gyaru who have been in the community for longer may not have told you about. I also want to discuss some tips and tricks for my personal makeup.  Firstly, Gyaru is more than just makeup - It's a lifestyle; Get Involved. If you want to be more in touch with Gyaru, I recommend going to Gyaru hangouts to stay in touch with the community. Also, as Gyaru, we must live up to this GOLDEN rule, "Get wild and be sexy!" Go out, have fun!! Make friends! Many Gyaru are very kind and hospitable.   Secondly, makeup is necessary, you can not be Gyaru without makeup. Many Gyaru in Japan testify the fact that Gyaru is a makeup based subculture. People like Paris Hilton may fit the Gyaru criteria (tanned skin and light hair) but she is NOT Gyaru because she doesn't wear the makeup.  Hime Gyaru in Shibuya, Japan  Thirdly, Gyaru is also very f

  Gyaru Substyles: Backstory, and Information Hello Babydolls -- in this post I want to briefly speak about the substyles of Gyaru. The weird, the fun, and the cute! Of course, I won't be covering every style known to exist, as that would be very time consuming...and endless. But, I will be talking about 3 substyles as well as their history! Firstly- What is a substyle? A substyle is defined as, " When a style is unique or of a different nature than what is considered "normal" for the style it originated from." (J-Fashion Wikia). Also, some styles may not have "substyles", because they don't really exist (yet). In Gyaru's case, that is the complete opposite, with the style branching HUNDREDS of substyles. For reference, this is just a small look at some of the Gyaru substyles out there. Chart by Lizzie Bee Ganguro is the most traditional style of Gyaru, as it was mainly worn during the time Gyaru just started to take off as a style (90's-20

  The Nitty Gritty of Gyaru Hello, Babydolls! I really hope you all enjoyed my last post. In this post, I want to talk about an in-depth deepdive on where Gyaru came from as a fashion style as well as the dark side of the style.  ————- Gyaru Origins ———— The Gyaru subculture started becoming a phenomenon in the 1990s, but originally started with the Japanese girls trying to spice up their uniforms. The Gyaru would usually have a loose ribbon around their neck as well as rolled down socks. Compared to the usual “elegant” and “formal” nature of the uniforms, this phenomenon quickly started to trend amongst the Japanese Schoolgirls.  Soon, the Gyaru would start defying the Japanese beauty standard of pale-skin and dark hair. The Gyaru would also try to mimic the western beauty standards of blonde hair, tan skin and high amounts of makeup to make their eyes look bigger (like a western caricature). And just like that, Gyaru took off, and by the early 2000s at least 4 Gyaru could be seen in