Is Himekaji Even Gyaru Anymore?

Hey cutie! How are you? Sooo I’ve been really back and forth with this blog post because I’ve found it really hard to illustrate my thoughts about how I feel about himekaji. Do you remember the post I wrote a couple of years ago about himekaji vs the Liz Lisa girl? Well, I want to address that again because since then I have discovered and accepted a few things.

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Himekaji, back in the day, was originally a gyaru style, meaning that the clothes they wore were leaning more towards the cute side (as the literal translation is “casual princess”), but they still retained all of the gyaru elements. The styled hair, the dramatic makeup, and some hint of fun and sexiness to their appearance. 

When I talk about himekaji, and when other people in the gyaru community talk about himekaji, the above is what we think of. Here are some examples to help explain what I mean:

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But this is what people call himekaji now:

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Yep, there’s a huuuge difference.

While I 100% believe what I said back then in that old blog post, I’ve also got to come to terms with the fact that the meaning of himekaji might not be the same anymore.

What I mean by that is that nowadays the new himekaji isn’t gyaru anymore.

And you know what? I’ve accepted that now. I’ve learnt to shrug it off because it doesn’t stop me from living my version – the old version – of himekaji!

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It’s taught me to stop focusing on what others are doing and to stop “gatekeeping” on what is and isn’t himekaji. Yes, I admit that I was a bit annoyed at the fact that people were tagging themselves as himekaji without an ounce of gyaru makeup but who could blame them? They entered a world where it has lost its connections to gyaru. I’m just wasting my energy if I try to go around and tell everyone that their version is “wrong” when I should really just focus on myself and live my own version of it. Perhaps label myself as “old school himekaji” and view them as “new era of himekaji”.

At the end of the day we both share the same passion in wanting to dress cute and believe that Liz Lisa is a gift from heaven.

And who knows – maybe one day there will be others who love gyaru and view himekaji in the same way that I do.

Love,
Lizzie xx 

p.s. just a disclaimer – moving forward, whenever I talk about “himekaji” in my future posts, I will always be referring to the gyaru version of it. Because for me personally, himekaji has always been about the whole look and not just about the clothes (that includes the gyaru hairstyling and heavy makeup).

p.p.s I want to also mention (because I know some might bring it up) there are still some hints of gyaru in some himekaji coordinates, but that’s very rare and as a whole there is a big difference to the old gyaru version. Just take a look at the #himekaji tag in general on instagram and you’ll know what I mean.