Different kinds of oldschool gyaru fashion

Hi there stars! This is my first post on my blog and I kind of wanted to dedicate it to the background of my love for oldschool gyaru so I really hope this is informational!

 Kogyaru-

So the first type of oldschool gyaru is kogyaru. Now you may think "isn't kogyaru just uniforms?" no. It isn't that exactly. So there are two meanings for kogyaru, there is the teen kogyaru which translates to high school gal which just means any gal who still is in high school! Just like how magogyaru is a middleschool gal and onee gyaru is a gal who has graduated school high school, so kogyaru has nothing to do with uniforms! The other meaning is the fashion type which also has nothing to do with uniforms, but it does play an important factor. Kogyaru we're rich teen shibuya girls who we're moving with the times and looking at Western fashion trends! However, their main focus was looking like a very famous idol, the well known p star to movie actress, ai lijima, who was known for her beautiful tan skin and skimpier rich look and leader of the bodikon women. She embodied what kogyaru wanted to be. These rich teen girls then set out to look just liker her, by tanning, wearing designer matching tops and mini skirts that were usually from Chanel, but also modifying their uniform to be more revealing and playful. Another key factor was the brand me jane, the 90s was the age of the shopper (shopping bags) which meant gals flaunted their shoppers at school and on the streets, especially me jane, love boat and roxy quicksilver shoppers as they fit that western tropical look they loved.

Amura-

We then move to see rising star namie amuro, the queen of Japanese r&b and hip hop, who starts amura,  the trend of platform boots with a knit top and a mini skirt and scarf that were almost always burberry. It also made the brands Cecil mcbee and egoist popular. Namie was such a trendsetter she led the year 1998-1999 along with another style that changed shibuya’s fashion scene for years to come.

Ganguro-

The age of the ganguro. Starting in 1998 the kogyaru tans got a bit darker to have a more tropical style to it. Brands like kapalua, cocolulu, roco nails and the slowly rising gal brand leader Alba rosa, the embodiment of everything tropical. White eyeshadow with a bit of blue or Green shadow on top with black eyeliner and sometimes a white lip would be the ganguro uniform. Leis, tengalons, big colourful turtlenecks and coats with crazy platforms rose in popularity as shibuya teen girls flaunted their looks with their b boy or surf boyfriends who also liked to tan rocked the streets. This peak in the year 2000 and would slowly die out in 2002 along with a style so extreme it was revered by many.

Gonguro-

Gonguro. Sometimes reffered to as yamanba but are two seperate things. The ganguro girls reached a new level of tanning in 1999 when buriteri would preach a crazy fashionable style with block white makeup and blue eyeshadow with black liner and the whitest lips for makeup. The style included dark as hell fake tans with bleach hair, large platform boots, big fluffy coats, crazy hats and gold or silver jewelry, it was glamour meets insanity. The style later died out along with ganguro around 2002, 

Oldschool yamanba-

We then see the rise of oldschool yamanba with the popteen model aja in 2000 where she had bleach hair with crazy colourful hair clips and synthetic extensions and makeup done with posca layered with stickers on top. Her fashion was colourful matching that of the ganguro girls but it focused less on a skimpier look but instead looking insane. It died around 2003 but if u class manba as apart of it then 2009.

Ayumi-

Next we have ayumi style which arose in 2001 which the Shiro style gyaru look slowly made its way in. The style followed the same idea as amura, but in style of ayumi Yamasaki. Denim bellbottoms with leopard print or camo stuff we're popular along with wooden platform heels, and fox tails on belts. 

surf style-

so the most long lasting gyaru style, that still remains to this day, is the ever evolving surf style. In the 90s and 2000s it was very much a fun beachy and colourful look with summery dresses, colourful skirts, windbreakers. makeup was not a huge deal but had some light foundation and liner, but the main focus was their summery, beachy tans fitting with their surfer look. the two key brands at the time were roxy and cocolulu, and yes cocolulu has been around for a long time and wasn’t always an amekaji brand, it started as a surfer brand, then ganguro brand, then manba and then amekaji but ended as a harajuku brand! but back to the topic at hand, surf style was the most western teen thing ever and is probably the style that came from baywatch as there is obviously going to be different origins to different styles!

hip hop style-

the next style we will talk about is the hip hop style! It’s meant to recreate the look of 90s teen urban dancers and hip hop that was very popular at the time but the majority being black people at the time so a lot of the pieces falls in to culturally significant styles of hair and clothing which is wrong to copy as a non black person so be careful! brands that were popular were shoop (this was before they changed to baby shoop which is when they used their slogan black 4 life), los cabos and galsville! most the gals had ganguro level tans but more casual makeup! The style is still around but has evolved into other fashion styles and has almost merged with reiwa gyaru and neo gal 

onee-

this style is where gals want to have a mature and cooler look so they tan the same length as kogyaru and wear darker makeup! popular brands are shoop and just other cool western brands. the style is reminiscent of tsuyome in some aspects especially with the amount of jewellery they wear, which includes gold and silver rings, dog tags, belts and bangles. the style peaked in 2001 but some aspects of it are still present in late 2000s onee, specifically in nuts magazine.

Clubber style-

This style is centred around club fashion which was very popular in 1999 and was a blend of many styles such as retro fashion, wester hip hop fashion, disco, punk, psych and so on. Gals who wore this style mainly wore high platform trainers as these were easiest to dance in. They also wore lots of of whistles and glow sticks, think terry cruise in white chicks in the club scene. It was commonly featured in fine magazine where they would have multiple page spreads for the style!

Ethnic style-

This style is linked quite closely with the clubbers fashion but is instead more of a naturalistic look as it mainly takes inspiration from african, Caribbean and south Asian styles with things such as their patterns and traditional clothing being used and reconstructed into fashionable resort and clubwear. It is looked down upon a lot nowadays as the use of these culturally significant patterns and attire can be seen as offensive! It died out around 2000.

Sporty style- 

Sporty style is quite simply just sporty fashion, a lot of jerseys, shorts and tracksuits but made more fashionable! It’s quite simple and very comfortable and lasted till around 2003 but is seen in many other styles.

Urahara style-

This is where harajuku street fashion meets gal, in a sort of 2008 roma and 2010s amekaji way it mixes the two styles with the use of different brands with the main one being super lovers! If you love gal and have just recently stopped doing harajuku fashion maybe this is the route for you with this colourful style

And that is all of the styles I can think about atm so thank you so much for reading my first post and 9 hope this helped guide lots of gals!