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Guide: Old School Gyaru

September 11, 2019

It’s finally here! After hours of research, 20+ different browser tabs open, and racking my brain for exactly how I did it when I was more involved in the Gyaru community, I finally have this mini-guide on Old School Gyaru 100% ready! If you love older brands such as ALBA ROSA, COCOLULU, and other defunct brands and don’t have a clear idea on how to apply this style to yourself or how to get the brands, then this guide is for you. Let’s get started:

Characteristics

The very beginning of the Gyaru era was primarily started thanks to the Shopping Bag (ショッパー) era; It was super popular to carry these bags in school and whenever a gal was out and about. During this time, the resort and California concepts were wildly popular! These concepts were even more established through brands like ALBA ROSA, Me Jane, ROCO NAILS. Hibiscus flowers, palm trees, and tropical leaves were the main print for any of these brands and were immediately embraced by what would become the first Gyaru boom. Because of these concepts, tans and lighter hair suddenly became really popular. Gals that embraced this style, suddenly began emulating and adapting a Barbie-esque, California girl type of makeup until it became what we see in the first issues of EGG Magazine.

Starter Brands

It’s no surprise that ALBA ROSA was the Gyaru brand to start, but it was almost impossible to buy the brand unless you were already working outside of school or bought knock-offs. The t-shirts were the simplest to obtain and the most popular before the hibi-patterned coats. These alongside the ALBA jewelry with the hibiscus flower were incredibly popular. To the girls that couldn’t obtain ALBA ROSA as easily, other brands became a staple since they still had a similar concept and were much more affordable than the former. These brands were: Majorena, SHAKE SHAKE, ROSE FAN FAN, LOVE BOAT, Jassie, KAPALUA, Ji-Max, VANCE, SWORDFISH, and COCOBONGO.

Successor Brands & Styles

Once Gyaru became more established via magazines like EGG, Popteen, Ranzuki, EGO System, etc., a few more brands came aboard for the “109 Gal Boom”.  ALBA ROSA also created what older generations are calling a Phantom Brand for men called MY TANE. By then, men were either Yankii or Sentaa Gai! By doing this, brands like RODEO CROWNS and COCOLULU quickly gained traction. Through CO&LU, the Amekaji style became more popular and later produced more Amekaji style brands like Blue Moon Blue, MarpleQ, etc. But I digress…

It’s 2019 but I want to Dress and be Oldschool Gal

Finding defunct brands, while not impossible, is a bit of a task! Not to mention that economy-wise, it makes all the more sense to sell defunct brand items for more than they’re worth. HOWEVER, that’s almost not the case in Japan. Second-hand webshops and auction sites have become what I consider to be a treasure trove of Gyaru brand items that with the right tools, can easily be obtained by anyone overseas. The great thing about it is that most items will either be in almost immaculate condition or they’ll be new with tags and most likely unused.

Finding Inspiration

Brand helps A LOT, but it means nothing if you can’t pull off the look. For this, magazines are a great start! EGG is great inspiration, as are the older publications for Ranzuki and Popteen. At some point, in fact, Ranzuki was considered the Gyaru magazine (go figure!). Another great source and often overlooked is EGO SYSTEM (エゴシス). For “real world” examples, Gal-sa like ANGELEEK for women and LOGOS for men is a great go-to in order to get inspired. These two circles were practically regarded as royalty and were also the beginning Gal-sa that would give way to others like EMPEROR, VIVID, and more. Another more overlooked source for inspiration is Para Para Mate (パラパラメイト) magazine (the only copy I’ve been able to find is on Mercari with an EGO SYSTEM magazine though…) It might be possible to get one of the mooks off of Amazon Japan…maybe.

  • You can buy EGO SYSTEM on Mercari while items are still available.
  • EGG is more of a popular term, so if you search for EGG GAL on Mercari, you’ll find a lot of the older editions still available!
    • BONUS: A lot of older brand items relating to EGG magazine are available through this search!
  • GUYS!!! Men’s EGG Youth and Men’s EGG should be your must need items if you’re looking for old school inspiration as well. You can also find these on Mercari.
    • If you’re looking for specifics, there was a short-lived release of Men’s EGG Hairs strictly for hairstyle inspiration.

Finding Brand

My tried and true have been MBok, Shibuya109 E-Shops, and Mercari. As long as you know the romaji and katakana for the brand you’re looking for, you’re all set! You can refer back to my Gyaru brand glossary on getting the katakana from these brands so you can do your search. To recap, here are the katakana for the aforementioned old school brands:

  • ALBAROSA(アルバローザ)
  • me jane(ミージェーン)
  • ROCO NAILS(ロコネイル)
  • majorena(マジョレナ)
  • SHAKE SHAKE(シェイクシェイク)
  • ROSE FAN FAN(ローズファンファン)
  • LOVE BOAT(ラブボート)
  • Jassie(ジャッシー)
  • KAPALUA(カパルア)
  • Ji-max(ジェイアイマックス)
  • VANCE(ヴァンス)
  • SWORD FISH(ソードフィッシュ)
  • COCOBONGO(ココボンゴ)

Finding a Reliable Shipping Service

The next step is the shipping service! Secondhand shops from Japan, web shops, and auction sites rarely ever let you place an order from abroad, so a shipping service is a must. White Rabbit Express (untested) has an easy to use guide on how to buy from Mercari through them. They also have nice little guides on how to buy from Amazon Japan, Rakuma (formerly Fril), and Yahoo!Auctions Japan. Yahoo!Auctions Japan also has a partnership with Buyee (untested) and they’ve also added support for Mercari as well. Though not relevant to this post specifically, Shibuya109 has a partnership with Buy Smart (untested). I’ve only tested two shipping services before, but have always held a preference towards Tenso (the other was Japonica Market).

All of the following shop links have ALBA ROSA in the search, which means you’re likely to find more gyaru brand on these than on other websites:

  • Yahoo!Auctions Japan
  • WanBoo
  • Rakuma/Fril
  • Mercari
  • MBok

When I was starting out, my favorite resource was Universal Doll. Check out her posts for more information on shipping services and more!

  • HOW TO BUY GYARU BRAND CLOTHES ON-LINE FROM JAPAN
  • MBOK & Y! JAPAN GAL AUCTIONS & YUMETENBOU GAL ITEMS

I hope this guide helps you if you’re interested in (re)living those old school gyaru days!

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Comments

  1. Kawaii Nerd says

    December 4, 2019 at 8:29 am

    Great resource selection, thanks! Did you try Remambo shopping service (https://www.remambo.jp)? If not yet, I’d recommend you a try.

    Reply
    • ohnoesdani says

      December 22, 2019 at 8:29 pm

      Oh, interesting! I hadn’t heard of them before. I just gave Buyee a chance this time around, so I’ll try Remambo on my next run (hopefully in the next month or so)!

      Reply

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About

Danyy here! Most times you can find me at the photo pit, other times you can find me babbling on about all things Gyaru.

Did I mention I miss O’ahu a lot? I finally made Did I mention I miss O’ahu a lot? I finally made a blog post about it!
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Check it out for recommendations, more pictures, and if that’s not enough, head on over to my Instagram stories for a full spam of absolutely everything from that trip! 🌺 🏝 ✨ .
Have you been to O’ahu before? What did you think about it?
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#ohnoesdani #girlswhotravel #waikikibeach #beachvibes #islandlife #lifeinoahu #dreamdestinations #beachgetaway #imisstraveling #solotraveler #oceanview #gameoftones #travelholic #seetheworld #theisland
Waikiki sunsets are amazing. ✨ . Hawai’i has b Waikiki sunsets are amazing. ✨ .
Hawai’i has been a dream destination for me that was always slightly out of reach. This year before the travel restrictions, I was able to go for a full week while attending a design conference.
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I’m hopeful that I’ll go back to visit soon! Though I spent most of my time within Waikiki, there’s so much that’s still left to explore. 🌺 🏝 🌊
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#ohnoesdani #girlswhotravel #waikikibeach #beachvibes #islandlife #lifeinoahu #dreamdestinations #beachgetaway #imisstraveling #solotraveler #oceanview #gameoftones #travelholic #seetheworld #theisland
One thing that really frustrates me is that I don’t have a makeup routine. I just kind of… go with whatever at the time and never can I actually recreate the same look I had a few days ago.
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Since I work from home, I don’t really have chances to go out and dress up like  I used to anyway, so I’ve been living it up in zero makeup and pj’s all day every day.
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Now that the セレブーGAL guide is out, I’ve got half a mind to order a new tracksuit too (because yes, I own a Juicy Couture tracksuit from wayyy back in the day).
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Anyway, here’s my face from a couple of days ago. 🌺 ✨ .
#ohnoesdani #gyaru #gaijingyaru #ギャル #gaijin #セレブー  #latingyaru #mexicangyaru #soylatina #chicanoculture #latinxculture #ギャル #オラオラ系 #alamexicana #gyarumexico #jfashion #japanesefashion #ブランド #gyarulatinoamerica #blog #ブログ #ギャルブロガー #gyarulatina #motd #fotd
Blog post UP! ↑↑ I may have gone a teeny tiny Blog post UP! ↑↑ I may have gone a teeny tiny bit overboard on this guide but the Serebu Gyaru guide is finally up and running!
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I wrote about this on one of my previous posts and I really wanted to get this guide going with the different ways to carry Serebu GAL style alongside a few tips. ✨
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I’m trying to keep a similar format to the original guide which is the Old School Gyaru one, so you can expect more guides in this same style too!
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Anyway whether you love 90’s-00’s fashion or the more modern and sometimes elegant (life)styles, you’ll want to give this a read!
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Also per request, I’m already planning out the next guide so stay excited!
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#ohnoesdani #gyaru #gaijingyaru #CelebrityGal #ギャル #gaijin #セレブー #セレブーGAL #kyabajou #cabaret #hostess #Y2K #emiriawiz #ギャル #オラオラ系 #elizaikeda #voguegirljapan #90sceleb #jfashion #japanesefashion #ブランド #highfashion #blog #ブログ #ギャルブロガー #90sfashion #00sfashion #fashionbrand
Blog post UP! ↑↑ New blog post, kind of! A lot Blog post UP! ↑↑ New blog post, kind of! A lot of new followers despite my inactivity so hi there! I’m Danyy.
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I’ve been in the gaijin gyaru community since around 2007 or so, but I’ve never been quite the participant. My favorite style technically is kurogyaru and favorite gal brand is D.I.Aspec (RIP).
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For quite a while, I’ve been into oldschool gyaru style (late 90’s early to mid 2000s). My favorite western brands tend to be surf ones.
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I’m a lover of knowledge, especially when it comes to gyaru subculture and fashion, and while I’m super inconsistent in posting, I really hope the information from my posts makes it worthwhile!
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Please tell me about yourself! ↓↓
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Long time no post! My new promotion happened just Long time no post! My new promotion happened just a while ago, I’ve been dedicating day and night to finding a salesperson for my business (finally found one thank goodness 💕), and this quarantine has me playing World of Warcraft in my spare time.
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Word on the grapevine is that Japan won’t be shipping out international mail effective in a few days so I’m kinda happy I got my package today (after letting it sit for a month in the system lol). 😂 😅 .
I’m always like a kid at a candy store whenever I get stuff! I focused on getting a lot of old school memorabilia to celebrate my birthday and promotion. A couple of the items even came in their original packaging which was nice too!
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Now that my schedule is clearing up a bit, I’ll be able to come back to blogging and respond to comments from last month lol. 😂 😭
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Blog post UP! ↑↑ Still Alive: Gyaru Brands . T Blog post UP! ↑↑ Still Alive: Gyaru Brands
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This is a… IDK-How-Many-Parts Series of all of the brands that were forgotten (at the very least by me) but are still alive! I’ve started with the monster that is @anap_official since there are quite a few sub-brands under it that are definitely worth a look!
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You’ll find the website URL, IG account, and my opinion whether it’s worth purchasing or not. Those that are have sample products and how/why they can be used.
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I’ll get a bit too business-like here but no brand can actually exist without support, so if you like the products and think they can help your GAL style, please support them by buying the brand(s)!
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(Check out my Shopping highlights for the full pic (Check out my Shopping highlights for the full pictures) ✨ .
I spent my entire weekend shopping and honestly I’m pretty tired LOL.
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Mercari had some pretty good items at great prices this time, so I bought a little more than I had ever done before. I’m still trying to figure out how I managed to do this but it happened!
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I’m considering this a happy promotion x early birthday present, especially since now I have to save up for the other things in my life. ✈️
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I’m a bit behind though, so I’m hoping to post about my last gets & coords before traveling for work again!
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Blog post UP! ↑↑ What’s your idea of what GA Blog post UP! ↑↑ What’s your idea of what GAL in the future will look like?
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ViVi recently took a crack at this with Nicole Fujita and after reading about it, I really hope that’s not the reality that Gyaru will be facing.
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Retro is in; the 90’s primarily! I want to believe that oldschool Gyaru brands and styles will make a comeback for that reason, so I created my own version of what I think the future of GAL could look like. 🌺
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