What does gyaru mean to me?

 

This will be an extremely text heavy post. Maybe there's things I write that you don't agree with. Be warned now.

Recently, a few of my friends have written blogs similar to the concept of "what does gyaru mean to me", and I was feeling inspired to write my own as well. I think it's not news if you know me that I'm "super strict" about gyaru and if asked (privately) I'll probably say "this person is not gal" nine times out of ten wwww. I hope by the end of this I'll be understood a little more.

In a wide sense, to me, gyaru is as all subcultures are: it's a word other people would call you if you fit the stereotypes. If you're clad in black, obsessed with vampires, drive a hearse, love Siouxsie and the Banshees, people will call you goth even if you don't call yourself goth. If you're an Italian American who loves tanning and body building, you might get called a Guido. If you smoke weed and eat only organic food and engage in leftist political activism, you might get called a hippie. Even if it's not how you identify or even if you find it offensive, these are simply little boxes society puts people in. Thus, if you're a young Japanese person who shops at 109, frequents the right clubs, and follows the trends of the right magazine, you'll be called a Gyaru. I was told by my parents from a young age that "if you need to say what you are, you're a poser" and I put that to heart. The thought that beckons is, "Ray, you're not Japanese", and that's right. That's why I believe I can never be authentically truly gyaru. I will always be an interloper in this space. I will always be culturally and linguistically separated from "authentic" gyaru. I will always be a poser. However, recently while chatting with Reina she said something that I really agree with: Japanese Gyaru culture and Gaijin Gyaru culture are two distinct and separate things. While we as gaijin may be inspired by Japanese gals, the way we dress, the way we communicate with our wider community, the way we operate our circles, the trends we follow, everything is completely different. I have been thinking about things this way for a while and it has brought much clarity for me. Now I feel that instead of occupying an inauthentic place in "Gyaru", I have an authentic place in "Gaijin Gyaru", if that makes sense?

What then makes someone a Gyaru if not the stereotypes aforementioned? I think it's wishy-washy. Personally I DO NOT believe that gyaru is a "state of mind", "in your heart", or even "the way you look". I don't believe that a person can be gyaru even if they have a perfectly replicated gyaru makeup, hair, outfit, nails, with full brand, because if that person can just wash it off at the end of the day and go back to "normal", it is a cosplay in my opinion. If those items were purchased with the sole purpose of "it looks gyaru" or to "make me look gyaru", it's a costume in my opinion. Therefore, even if I'm shown a picture of a person looking really nice, in my mind all I see is the costume they put on for the Instagram photos, that they then took off after and went back to their preferred appearance. Cosplay. I think this is also fine, dressing up for fun is harmless, but I don't think this makes someone a gyaru.

What is gyaru to me, is being gyaru. I know that explains literally nothing, but it's the best explanation I've got lol. I think that most people who feel they want to 'be gyaru' spend 100% of their time looking at 'gyaru aesthetic' content online, talking about gyaru in a philosophical sense, arguing about what is or isn't gyaru, and asking for advice about how to avoid doing all of the things that make gyaru. In my mind, if you have to force yourself to actually get dressed in a "gyaru" way, and cut away all of the things that make gyaru recognizable in order to be able to tolerate it, you do not actually want to be gyaru, which is okay. The problem is people coming into it in reverse. Learning about gyaru and trying to shove themself into the box they weren't already fitting inside of comfortably. Gyaru will be gyaru all the time without struggling to do so because they genuinely enjoy it and it suits them. That is what separates them, to me.

Think about it this way: what opportunities does someone have to personalize their life? Their physical appearance, the way they dress day-to-day, the personal items they keep, the hobbies they take part in, the friends they surround themselves with, etc. To me, Gyaru is one way that all these categories may be fulfilled. Gyaru is high maintenance, flashy, feminine, with a focus on manmade and unnatural. A Gyaru would have chosen to keep her physical appearance in an unnatural and high maintenance way (died hair, false nails, tan, colored contacts, etc.), she would have dressed in a way that's flashy and fashion-minded, she would have bought personal items that are obviously hers if left behind because they suit her taste. All of these things even before she knew what "gyaru" was, because that's just her personality. Now, having discovered such magazines which exactly suit her tastes, she would strive to style herself in a way that is distinctly "gyaru", that still lets her unique personal style shine through. THAT is Gyaru to me. 

Now if you want "what does gyaru look like", I will say it's a combination of of what I said in the above paragraph, with the addition of "what's in the magazines right now" (and nowadays, what the influencers are wearing), toned down for everyday wearability. Gyaru has and always has had an emphasis on current trends and no matter how obsessive the gaijin community gets with out-of-fashion old news, that won't change.

At the end of the day, every day when you wake up, if you're starving to style yourself and feel realized as your full gal potential, I think that's the magic of gyaru.

(obligatory 'social media ruined everything' segment)

I think there has been a severe shift in the way we mentally interact with personal identity and personal style in the last decade. For all of history until now, a person's identity and personal style came from within themselves, from their genuine likes and interests, from their friends and family, from their community, and the media they consumed. Then, with the rise of social media and the influencer, it became extremely profitable to convince a person that they like or want something that they would never have thought of without the influence, and they don't even know they're being influenced!

Nowadays I have seen an extremely frightening trend in young people who don't know how to form an opinion about something on their own without checking public consensus, don't know how to tell if they actually like something, or why they want to try something. If asked, they will genuinely say they don't know. it's crazy! This is a big double edged sword in gyaru. There are so many young people flooding in saying "I want to be gyaru""how can I be gyaru""can I be gyaru if X Y Z", But when pressed they seem to both not know what gyaru is, and also not like it if shown actual examples. I do not know what to even make of this, frankly. All I can say is this:

Do not focus on fitting yourself in a box. I know having a label to call yourself is cool and having a group of new friends built right in is really easy, but you are working backwards. Just focus on being yourself. Literally, just do whatever things you LIKE without checking if they match an aesthetic or match together first. Eventually, whatever you are will shine through and you'll fall into whatever box you fit in. If you like one thing about gyaru, do that thing, you don't have to adopt a whole new persona just to wear deco nails or circle lenses.