Hello Everyone!
Recently I wrote a post for one of the Amino communities in which I talked about some of my personal "hot takes" about the way we perceive and discuss gyaru in the international communities. Most of it, I will be leaving behind there, but there is one part that I have been asked by a few folks to make publicly available so they can read it, which inspired me to finally start this blog so I could do so!
In this case, today I'd like to talk about substyle categorizations, how I feel about them, and why I don't use them.
In the international communities, when we talk about gyaru, we have an arsenal of terms we use to hyper-categorize any makeup look, outfit, even the way you breathe can be particularly "Amekaji" it seems. 😂 For a long time I didn't really think about it, but as I got really into researching the history of gyaru, reading old gal's blogs, and helping coach newbie gals over time, I realized something one day: It really doesn't need to exist??
I started to notice a bad habit in newbies to ask "what substyle would this be?" about everything they do and wear, as though that's all there is to gyaru. Inexperienced gyaru often fall into a habit of copying a "substyle" by buying the most stereotypical items from that substyle, wearing them as is without any personal flair or trying to make it something new, and then become quickly bored of gyaru because it doesn't seem to allow for any creativity.
I started referring to this habit as "cosplaying as a gyaru", and I happen to think its extremely accurate personally (lol). It definitely seems like a costume to me to dress up like what you think a gyaru looks like, instead of BEING a gyaru yourself and dressing for you. It is an extremely stifling cycle of holding oneself back, not growing or branching out or trying to actually make looks, and never improving. Most of all, it's not very fun, it's not what gyaru is, and, in my opinion, we aren't doing gyaru as a culture any favors by staying stuck on replicating the idealized past instead of trying to create the future of gyaru.
Why Do You Care?
I can't really form a well researched and comprehensive expination about why we are so obsessed with hyper-categorizing in communities like this. It is an extremely common behavior, and is by no means exclusive to gyaru. I feel that the concept of substyle largely contributes to discussions within gyaru communities becoming tangled up in things that aren't really serving anyone (Questions to the effect of "would these shoes work for kogal?" and limiting themselves to only the shoes that fit a "kogal cosplay" are not very helpful or causing much growth). I feel that after I forgot about it all together, and led discussions about gyaru as a wholistic entity, not as a fragmented group-of-groups, everyone was better served and were able to grow more quickly than ever. (now questions like "I like these shoes, how can I style them in a cute gyaruable way?" are SO MUCH better and more fun to answer!)
While looking at other gals' online profiles I often notice that the majority of those who were/are most successful and influential, those who come to our minds as our greatest inspirations, almost never follow "substyle" rules. Often, they can be forcibly categorized after the fact with the powers of hindsight to see a group of gals who were not following current trends in similar ways, but individually most refined, heavily active gyaru are doing their OWN thing, and I think it speaks very loudly that the "comm leaders" are often those least invested in cookie cutter replications.
OUR Burando ☭
I also can't help myself but to add a section from my previous Amino post that will probably be unpopular but I do think it's true and it's interesting to me, so here we go.
Of course, the magazines were extremely influential, and continue to be a source of "the law" for us to this day. I do not think we should throw them away or whatever at all. HOWEVER, I am keenly aware of the fact that the majority of the contributing traits of substyles as we understand them were literally just born from magazine ads. Creating cohesive looks with a few key brands, the magazines formed very specific concepts that we internalized as "styles" to be copied. Even concepts that appeared for only a single spread or issue became "styles" of their own. There's not necessarily anything wrong with this, but I think it's important to acknowledge. It makes me feel some way to think about this much weight being put into literally clothing commercials, and the fact that, in some ways, we as a community kind of police ourselves into following what advertisements tell us we should look like.
So what?
These are all my personal thoughts. They don't have to, and certainly won't, influence anyone to do anything just because I wrote a wordy blog complaining about capitalism in my skimpy clothes club (lol).
However, I hope this made any sense at all, and got my actual ideas accross, and maybe it will cause others to think about it too. I personally opperate like this, when discussing and researching gyaru:
⤷ Gyaru Is one unified community. it is not an umbrella term for 10+ splintered separate groups. I find that its more conducive to categorize by era, and by "vibe" (ex: cool, sweet) than anything, if categorizing is needed.
⤷ Gyaru is a default, which you can build on top of. If you understand what makes gyaru, you can buy whatever you like, that works in gyaru, and wear it. You make your looks for YOU, you are an individual.
⤷ RESEARCH. MORE. AND. SUPPORT. CURRENT. BRANDS.
You'll notice most modern gyaru doesn't match any "substyles" at all. I think this causes a lot if disinterest overseas. We are groomed to expect super flashy old school stuff that just isn't on trend right now. There is SUCH a large overseas gal community, and I think we have more power to create a new hype and trends than we really appreciate. we need to be supporting current work more, focussing on bringing NEW things to the community and reenergizing it. We are always very stuck in the past. So much that we often neglect to participate in the current fares. I love old releases as well, 99% of my closet is probably pre-2010. But I personally want to bring more current brands into my life, and I am going to be working hard to encourage more innovation and forward thinking in the comm.
I hope someone got something of value out of this, another classic long rant of mine reformatted for the blog-reading masses. Thankyou for taking the time to read this far if you have, you're a true champion, and please feel free to come chat with me on the discord server or wherever if you want to talk about this!
Bye For Now! ♡
