Hey cutie ♡ 你好小可爱! How are you? Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my last post – I’m trying my best to spread things out so that I don’t get burnout, and I really hope to get my energy levels back on track. Anyway, today I want to publish a post I’ve been meaning to write for a very long time about how I live my gyaru life! I did a YouTube video about this a while back that you could watch. For me, gyaru is not only a fashion, but a lifestyle!
Before we dive right in I do want to add a little disclaimer: this is not me trying to say that the things I mention in this post and on that video are gospel. There is no right or wrong, but this is just my gyaru lifestyle and how I personally view the gyaru subculture.
My Gyaru Lifestyle
So here are the things that I view as part of my gyaru lifestyle…
Blogging
Blogging is a huge part of my life and that’s all thanks to gyaru and jfashion in general, and it reminds me of (back in the day) when everyone used to have a blog before we all migrated to facebook. instagram etc. We wrote whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and reading Japanese gyaru blogs was a main source of inspiration. There has been a gyaru blogging resurgence lately (which makes me so so happy!!!!!!!) and I’ve gone back to digging around for old gyaru blogs for inspiration again.
On another note, I feel like blogging casually the way we do in itself is rebellious – especially now that the blogging world is like “write useful posts” and “oooh SEO-friendly content” and blahblahblah. Like, nah, screw that! We write whatever we want to!
Following + Chatting to Other Gyaru on Social Media
I don’t know about you but I live on the internet, and as soon as I open up instagram I immediately see photos of my amazingly gorgeous gyaru friends. There are some friends that I talk to pretty much every day! We even arrange virtual gyaru meets (which I’ll talk more about later) and have video calls and leave voice messages and aaaaah I love my friends so much hahahaha.
(Virtual) Gyaru Meets
Going to a gyaru meet is amazing, and I always feel super motivated when I see all of my friends! But since the pandemic it’s been pretty hard to do this so instead we’ve been arranging virtual gyaru meets which I LOVE. The best thing about it? You can talk to your friends from all over the world! And don’t need to leave the comfort of your home haha.
Reading Gyaru Magazines
Reading gyaru magazines is one of my main sources of inspiration (after reading up on gyaru blogs) and I always get super happy looking at my magazine collection! It’s such a lovely way to spend the evening when you want to have a little break from social media.
Gyaru Elements, Everywhere!
Not too sure if you know this but baaaaasically I can’t really wear gyaru makeup everyday because of my skin, so what I try to do instead is make my surroundings as gyaru as possible. My desk at work has really cute figurines. I use cute stationery. My phonecase is my favourite accessory. Even my car has a dash of My Melody in it. I could go on and on!
Another thing I did during lockdown is to do up our living space. Our bedroom is lovely and pink with lots of leopard print (you can watch my gyaru room tour or read my blog post about it), and once my kitchen is done it’s going to look like Hello Kitty HEAVEN and I’ve never been more excited!
Cooking Yummy Japanese Food
Me and my hubby love taking part in virtual cooking classes where we cook lots of yummy Japanese food (you can read about us cooking Sukiyaki and Katsu Curry!) and we’ve been slowly learning how to cook more and more Japanese food now that we have more time at home. I never really talk about food on my blog but I promise you you’ll definitely be seeing more posts about the dishes we create! I’m so excited!
Watching Gyaru Anime + Films
So I don’t actually watch a lot of anime but my favourite series (which I seem to watch at least once a year haha) is “Super Gals”! The manga is absolutely amazing as well and I feel like you’re not truly gal unless you have read/watched it. Another adorable series is “Gal and Dino”, and I’ve also watched “Please Tell Me! Galko-Chan”. I guess “Peach Girl” could class as gyaru because the main character looks gyaru but that manga is an emotional rollercoaster haha.
Another notable mention is “Girl’s Life” which features Rina Sakurai as the main character. The film and the acting isn’t exactly great, but everyone looks absolutely amazing and Sakurina is at her agejo prime.
Parapara パラパラ
Yes, I know, I’m predictable, but how could I miss out on mentioning parapara? It’s something that we do at every international gyaru meet and OH MY GOSH even though I am absolutely awful at it, it is so much fun to do! The other day I had a video call with my dearest Peg where she was teaching me the routine to Velfarre 2000 and I never felt more gal in my life. It’s so much fun doing it with other people, too! And I guess it counts as exercise…?
Another Reason Why I think Gyaru isn’t just a Fashion, but a Lifestyle
There are some gyaru out there (especially in Japan) who actually take career paths that would allow them to live their gyaru life, 24/7. Whether that’s being a beautician, working in a tanning salon, being a hostess… They could take a “normal” job like one in the office but that would mean they’d have to ditch tanning and dye their hair black, which to them is blasphemous!
This is why I don’t necessarily agree with those who say “I dressed gyaru today”. Now please don’t take that the wrong way as I’m not here to bash anyone because how you live your life is not really my concern, but I can’t apply that phrase to myself personally. Because I don’t dress gyaru, I am gyaru.
Okay so… Gyaru is a lifestyle, then?
Gyaru, to me, is not only a fashion, but a lifestyle. There are just so many small ways where it has influenced my everyday decisions; whether that’s my love for animal print or really cute Sanrio things. But this is just how I live my gyaru life! Here are some examples of my lovely friends and how they live theirs:
- Emi absolutely loves tanning, has super long nails, and changes her hair colour nearly every week lol
- Georgie frequently uploads pictures of her daily co*de which she calls her “georgiekaji”. Plus she’s like a living gyaru encyclopedia
- Reina always carries a gyaru magazine in her bag no matter where she goes
- Danielle customises and creates clothes to fit into her hime gyaru life
- And Risa has THE most beautiful home ever – it looks like it’s come straight out of a Rady catalogue!
And that’s all for today! Gosh it feels so strange to write such a long post… But it kind of feels good!
How do you view the gyaru lifestyle?
