About me:

gyaru is a japanese translation of the english word "gal". the name originated from a 1970s brand of jeans called "gals", with the advertising slogan: "i can't live without men", and was applied to fashion- and peer-conscious girls in their teens and early twenties.



when the gyaru fashion movement first appeared in the mid-1990s amongst tokyo teenage girls, the media and japanese males had a field day with the subculture's hyper-sexual take on the normal high-school uniform; tanning salons and loose socks became popular in shibuya to high school girls, possibly because of pop idol namie amuro and the popular syndicated television show baywatch. this trend eventually led to the birth of kogal (kogyaru) whom often resembled the california valley girl clichie of the west. they lightened their hair, tanned their skin, shortened their skirts, over-accessorized their cellphones, piled on the makeup and developed a dandy set of slang called kogyaru-go or "kogalese". Their skin was slightly darker than normal (thanks to tanning salons), the skirt hem a little higher up on the leg, and the bag weighed down with more stuffed animal accessories than humanly possible.



by 1999, however, the kogal had passed their peak, and the style was hijacked by the ganguro — a term meaning literally "black face." first known as "loco gyaru" these girls were the wild sisters of kogyaru;( the term "loco gyaru" was officially dead in 1998 and they were known further as "ganguro". ganguro and kogal should never be confused with each other! in fact there's speculation that the term ganguro began because 'kogal' and 'loco gal' were too similar and neither wanted to appear related.) the ganguro girls darkened to their faces to an extreme degree, redefining the act of tanning from an attempt to look older to a means of instilling abject horror. instead of boy-friendly cosmetics, they added white makeup to their already pitch-black faces as if they wanted to look like inverse panda bears.they also added bright tropical apparel, purikura thrashed cell phones and even more complex slang.this incarnation of the style drove away most of the casual middle-class female fans and outraged both social conservatives and the pedophilic older men who had lusted after the original gyaru.



in 1999 "gonguro" also hit the subculture stage as a more extreme version of ganguro; deeper tan, crazier hair, brighter elaborate clothes, twice the make-up, and so much slang it sounded like another language. they marked the beginning of the yamanba style (now known simply as manba) and helped along the para para boom. one of the most famous early ganguro girls was known as buriteri, nicknamed after the black soy sauce used to flavor yellowtail fish in teriyaki cooking. egg made her a star by frequently featuring her in its pages during the height of the ganguro craze. after modeling and advertising for the shibuya tanning salon "blacky", social pressure and negative press convinced buriteri to retire from the ganguro lifestyle.


yamanba hit the scene around 2000-2001. yamanba is a newer term often used to describe extreme practitioners of ganguro fashion. yamanba feature darker tans and add white lipstick, pastel eye makeup, tiny metallic or glittery adhesives below the eyes, brightly-colored contact lenses, plastic dayglo-colored clothing, and incongruous accessories to the ganguro look. some yamanba wear stuffed animals as decorations. the male equivalent is called a "sentaa guy", a pun on the name of a pedestrian shopping street near shibuya station in tokyo where yamanba and sentaa guys are often seen.

the gyaru were dead by mainstream japanese culture around 2001 and they eventually died out, or at least that's what they wanted everyone to think.



in july 2004, yamanba experienced a revival, only now they were better. the make up was more extravagant, the fashions nodded back to thr tropical style and all gyaru hell broke loose; manba hit the scene with their queen ka-tan.

despite the resistance to ganguro,gonguro, yamanba and manba this working-class delinquent stream of gyaru managed to stay strong for a few years before beginning to peter out around mid 2001. some hardcore members have continued to squat in shibuya's center street area, but the look has been "over" for a quite a while now.

in the few last years, however, the gyaru have suddenly reestablished themselves in the market while no one was paying attention. now there are over 15 subcategories of gal and it's not stopping there. the gyaru have created their own culture; fashion magazines, support groups, clothing lines, television series, and languages. gal is now becoming relevant in all parts of western civilization