GAL REVO-TRANCE

Big smile now! This is my Halloween costume. It's February now, but i want to share these pics and the influences for them because the 'Gyaru' is on my mind all the time lately. Gyaru is a Japanese fashion trend amongst teenage to early 20's girls, they have very dark tans (Ganguro= very dark tan & usually pastel or white make-up down the nose and under the eyes, these girls are...somethin'!) and dye their hair to more Western colors like blonde or auburn. Gals often put colored streaks in their hair to symbolize their moods and some wear colored contacts or these super weird ones which make their whole iris black, this is to make them appear more cartoonish. The Gal is attempting to look like an over-the-top California girl. And right now in Japan this craze is pretty big, i saw these girls more frequently than any other of the stand out trends in Japan (ie: Goth-Lolita)

Before I went to Japan, i had discovered the J-pop artist Sifow. She has this hilarious video that opens with her in a tanning bed and she goes on to sing of 'LOVE & PEACE' (the name of the song) with the help of her body guards, two giant black body builders in little gold speed-o's(sorry for bad spelling!). So i became obsessed with her and music like her's and realized all this fashion and style, and the sped up euro-beats were all the language of the wonderful and very not mysterious Gyaru, which is simply the word 'Gal' phonetically sounded out in Japanese. The pic on the top is Sifow with the para-para pop group Gyaruru, which i came to find out Sifow actually put together and produced, she really is quite talented.

While in Japan, much to my friend's horror, I set out on a mission to find out more about Gyaru Nation. Now, my friend is horrified because these Gals aren't exactly model citizens. They are percieved as frivelous twits who'll do whatever it takes to get those label clothes and bags. They live to shop,dance and look good, and hope to marry wealthy so they can live this sort of anti-Japanese life style for all their days. But as an outsider, i think it's easier for me to think that these are just kids having fun and most of them grow out of it, and some of them are awesomely successful music producers, fashion designers and singers or models, or all of the above, like Sifow. All over Tokyo there are these 3 story New & Used entertainment shops, called 'Book Off'. These stores sell new & used CD's,DVD's,Manga and magazines. I began to find Gyaru specific magazines, such as Ranzuki, Agenda & Es Possh!. My favorite is Ranzuki but I gathered information and inspiration from all of them.

I couldn't make my hair quite that large.....

but thanks to my sister's make-up talents, i got the 'Blue Face' i was hoping for! and you can make yourself uber tanned without risking your skin through many wonderful lotions and foundations. I used L'oreal Paris' True Match C7 cool nut brown foundation for my face and their Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning lotion in Medium Natural Tan. Both of these coupled with some stage tanning powder give fair skin a very deep and frightening tan. For my eyes, my sister used liquid eye liner from Cover Girl and various white and blue powder shadows. So all in all my Gal costume was a complete success, except I'm.like,SO not Japanese so i kind of ended up looking like a Jersey house wife and i happened to unvail this costume IN New Jersey sooo...I was definitely a hit with those Jersey boys. No one knew what i was but I knew i looked exactly like i wanted and those that know Gyaru seem to agree.



For more pics and Gyaru awesome-ness, stay tuned as I am working on my two Gyaru characters AND you should go to the sight CherryPop.Over because they are totally on top of Gyaru culture and the best source for pics and music. The sight is in French or Japanese but it doesn't really matter! dozo!