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Gyaru (Japanese form of "gal") was a Japanese fashion that originated in Shibuya and was popular in the late 90s. If you want to recreate this iconic style, here's how.
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Research gyaru. Gyaru is defined by it's uprooting of typical Japanese beauty standards- pale skin, dark hair, neutral coloured clothing and subtlety. Ergo, gyaru fashion is all about darkly bronzed faces, extreme makeup, bright fashion and comes with it's own culture of rebelling against society, not conforming.
Gyaru culture is about being youthful and "out-there", an emphasis on hanging out with friends over impressing guys, partying, owning your sexuality, being rebellious and having fun.
Some say gyaru was an exaggerated representation of American teenaged party culture. For some information on history and culture, read articles online. -
Choose your type of gyaru. While there are many different types, they often encompass the same things. The following is only a few types, look online for more.
- Ganguro: Influenced most by "black culture" and hip-hop culture from the mid-90's and early 2000s. Always needs dark makeup and bleached hair.
- Kogyaru/Kogal: The "ko" in it's name comes from the Japanese word for "child", meaning this form of gyaru is all about looking cute and young. It involves wearing forms of school uniforms with alterations (eg. loose socks, short skirts).
- Yamanba: Uses thick, bright and colourful eye makeup for an almost "panda" effect and symbols from pop culture (especially Disney characters)
- Manba: Uses beach-wear eg. strappy bright sundresses and sandals, and equally colourful hair highlights and tanned skin.
- Banba: Similar to manba, but takes inspiration from Barbie. Has naturally coloured hair and slightly lighter skin, and uses a lot of pink.
- Ganjiro: A more common form of gyaru that follows the culture and trends but doesn't use the same dark skin.
- Tsuyome: A more subtle version of Manba/Banba that uses less heavy makeup.
- Onee-gyaru: A classier form of gyaru for older women and girls who wanted to retain their style but also look more professional. Subdued but still takes from American culture.
- B-Gyaru: A style that is all about looking like an African-American R&B artist by wearing cornrows and painting their skin brown. Not recommended, since this classifies as blackface and is offensive.
- Hime-gyaru: A style of gyaru that's all about looking like a "hime" (princess). A lot of pearls, expensive products and frills are involved.
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Wear the clothes. From the above list, you should have a rough idea of what clothes you should be getting. If you're looking at hime-gyaru or another romantic style, go for pastels and pearls and glamour. If you're going for something like Manba, you're better off raiding thrift shops for cute, bright clothes.
Things from the early 2000s and the 90's are great, the more colourful and cheesy the better. Look online for inspiration and more information, since there's so many variations. -
Apply the appropriate makeup. This is arguably the most important part of the fashion. While many gyaru styles involve just simple bronzer, falsies, light lipstick and contouring, many go above and beyond.
If this applies to you, you'll need dark bronzer, large false eyelashes in various colours (even metallic or glittery ones), strong white eyeshadow or highlighter in the brightest and strongest colour you can get, a big colourful eyeshadow palette, both white and black eyeliner and pale lipstick.
Use images online and copy those at first as you find what you like best. Some people prefer the white panda-eye effect, others like to wear just a little white eyeshadow around the eyes, some like intense and in-your-face obvious contouring along the nose in white eyeliner, others like the natural subtle look, some like flashy false eyelashes in crazy colours and textures, other prefer a simple black one along the upper lash line.
You get the idea: gyaru can be as extreme or as subtle as it needs to be. However, put focus on the eyes and make them look as big as you can. False eyelashes are a must. -
Do your hair. Think big, beachy and bright. Many gyarus wear wigs which is especially helpful if your hair is thin or you don't want it permanently bleached. You can buy wigs online, but don't be tempted to buy a cheap party wig. They are usually bad-quality, shiny and not suitable for fashion.
If you choose to use your natural hair, it's traditional to bleach it to blonde, light orange or colour it a pastel colour. Hairstyles include a lot of hairspray, waves and curls, sideswept fringes and are usually a considerable length.
Use things like plastic hairclips and scrunchies if your style permits, or for a more feminine look use tiaras and silver headbands. -
Accessorize! Gyarus like ridiculously long manicures with plenty of decoration on them. You can recreate this style by using false nails, glitter, tiny beads/rhinestones and a bright coloured nail-polish. You can pretty much "gyaru-ify" anything you wear like earmuffs, handbags, necklaces etc. by gluing on rhinestones and trinkets.
An especially common trait in gyarus is their dramatically glitzy phones- the process of adding bling to your phone or iPod is called "decoden" in Japan (a mixture of the word "deco" for decoration and "denwa" which is phone). You can look online for tutorials in making such a phone-case or buy them online from sites like eBay or Etsy. -
Enjoy gyaru media. Since gyaru isn't as popular as it once was, many gyaru-centred magazines have been discontinued. The most famous gyaru magazine was "EGG", which you can still find copies of online.
Older versions focus more on Manba than the more subtle styles, and of course all the articles are written in Japanese. However there are photoshoots, street fashion, makeup tutorials and other fun stuff that you can enjoy even if you can't speak the language.
Since gyaru takes a lot of inspiration from American culture, things like R&B music, 90's pop, Disney movies etc. are all relevant to gyaru. -
Live the gyaru lifestyle. Being a gyaru is all about owning yourself and being confident. If you're of age, many gyarus would go clubbing and partying on the weekends. They also owned their own sexuality and didn't stigmatize casual sex. Being a gyaru is all about having fun and being crazy while you still can, so own it!
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Community Q&A
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QuestionCan I just keep my hair red? I'm not allowed to bleach my hair.Community AnswerYes, you can, gyaru doesn’t require wigs or keeping your hair light you can keep your natural hair as long as you do the makeup and dress in gyaru attire!
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QuestionCan I, a black non-binary person, be a gyaru?VenusCommunity AnswerYes, anyone can be gyaru. Skin color does not matter, nor does gender. Although the style is more feminine, your gender does not matter.
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QuestionTo be gyaru, do you have to be a certain type of gyaru? Some are too plain but some are too crazy and I’d like to just go in the middle.VenusCommunity AnswerYou do not have to be a specific type of gyaru. If you want to be in the middle, that's perfectly fine!
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Tips
- If you already speak Japanese, try learning the typing style "gyaru-moji".Thanks
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Warnings
- Never use blackface or culturally appropriate.Thanks
- This is a very crazy style that is inactive almost everywhere. Use this look subtly or wear it to conventions or Harajuku fashion meet-ups.Thanks
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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 39,893 times.
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