The Gyaru Subculture Subcultures

Subcultures: The Gyaru Subculture

The Gyaru Subculture: Subcultures

The Gyaru Subculture

One of the widely recognized impacts of globalization is the fact that it causes changes and modifications to the values, norms and traditions of existing cultures, resulting in the formation of new subcultures, or the complete loss of cultural identity (Marshall & Raymond, 2015). The Gyaru subculture in Japan offers a perfect example of a subculture formed in this manner. 'Gyaru' is the Japanese translation for the English word 'girl' -- it is a subculture of young girls and women who, just like most women in the rest of the world, are obsessed with trying to achieve the image of 'ideal' beauty imposed upon them by the media. Differently from other women, however, the Gyaru go to extreme lengths to achieve these unattainable standards of beauty -- they follow a certain style of dressing and do their hair and make-up in a specific way. The more common features among all their members are huge heels, short skirts, and big eyes (Marshall & Raymond, 2015).

Development of the Gyaru Subculture

The name 'Gyaru' originated from a sub-brand of the Wrangler Jeans called 'gurls' in the 1970s. The jeans were marketed under the slogan 'I can't live without men' and were targeted at fashion-conscious teenage girls and women in their early twenties (Hedy Magazine, 2015). In 1979, Sawada Kenji released a song titled 'Oh Gyaru', which featured young modern girls in the same brand of jeans attire. The word 'Gyaru' was integrated as part of teens' vocabulary following this song, and was used to essentially refer to happy modern girls in their teens and early twenties, as well as older women who lacked interest in marriage and work (Hedy Magazine, 2015).

Gyaru: Subculture or Trend

Many people have questioned 'Gyaru's qualification as a subculture -- some tend to think that it is just a trend, whose members are just trying to keep up with trends in fashion. Well, I tend not to agree with this line of reasoning -- the Merriam Webster dictionary defines a subculture as a group within a larger culture, whose beliefs and behaviors are different from those of the larger culture or society. One of the core elements of the Japanese culture is the bihaku, which is the belief that women ought to remain beautifully white -- the Gyaru, however, are known for such acts as bleaching hair and tanning skin, both of which go against the bihaku culture and are considered acts of rebellion against the ojousama (young lady roles) as well as the traditional beauty standards. This alone qualifies the Gyaru as a subculture.

Features and Characteristics

Members of the Gyaru subculture are characterized by dramatic make-up, highly decorated nails and heavily dyed/bleached hair (mainly shades from blonde to dark brown). Their make-up consists primarily of fake eyelashes and dark eyeliner intended to give the face a slimming effect and make the eyes appear bigger. The clothing pieces for members of the Gyaru subculture are determined by the specific Gyaru subcategory to which one subscribes. The various Gyaru subcategories have been enumerated in the subsections that follow.

Gyaru Subcategories

KoGyaru: these are usually high school students, often dressed in school uniform and big white socks (Hedy Magazine, 2015). Once they have graduated from high school, KoGyaru are referred to as ParaGyaru.

OneeGyaru: this group mainly consists of girls above the age of 20; they adorn a mature look, characterized by designer brands and expensive clothing (Hedy Magazine, 2015). OneeGyaru girls above the age of 35 are referred to as ObaGyaru, whereas those with children are referred to as Galmama.

Hime Gyaru: these adorn lots of pink attire with big hair and pink accessories including bows, flowers, and pearls (Hedy Magazine, 2015). Their clothes are, however, unlike those of the OneeGyaru, less costly and easy-to-wear.

Ganguro: these have darker skin and often put on more make-up than any other subcategory. They are well-known for their bright clothes, platform boots, light hair, white lipstick and white eye shadow (Hedy Magazine, 2015).

Manba: these wear the same type of makeup and clothing as the Ganguro; however, in addition to the white eye shadow, they also wear a white nose stripe (Hedy Magazine, 2015).

YaManba; these are darker than Manba; and usually wear bright red hair, white lips and eyes, as well as jewels on their face (Hedy Magazine, 2015)

Banba: these are generally lighter than Manba, but adorn the same style of clothing, although with less white, more glitter, and light pink lipstick and eye shadow, as opposed to white.

Tsuyome Banba: this is the most hardcore Gyaru look, characterized by super big colored hair in addition to extreme eye and facial make-up (Hedy Magazine, 2015). Members of this group are widely differentiated by their huge wigs and hair extensions, with some having hair longer than their heights.