gyaru 101: how did we get here?

 ORIGINALLY POSTED: June 2025

**03/23/2026 EDIT: oh my first gyaru blog... how nostalgic (;_;) if you are reading this for the first time, please know that this is not my best work or by any means a definitive, comprehensive blog! do your own research to supplement the information here!** 

take a seat, students! shido-chan is about to yap! 

i'm sure everyone on the alternative side of the internet has seen the rise of gyaru in recent times. we're really seeing a proper gyaru renaissance, but i'm sure plenty of y'all are confused about the ins and outs, what it means to be a gal, and stuff like that. as spacehey's resident education major, i've decided it's basically my sworn duty to spread the gospel of gyaru, and that's what i intend to do! 

so, what is gyaru? and how did we get here? 

gyaru is derived from the english word "girl", with gyaru being the japanese pronunciation. just like the way we use the word girl in english, it carried a lot of playful energy. it was used to describe youthful, energetic japanese girls. 

as for the style, we first need to take it back to the 80's. a lot of english-language gyaru resources will say that gyaru began in the 70's, but that isn't the complete truth. sure, it had probably begun to take root in those days, but it wasn't a full-fledged movement then. we need to look at japan's bubble era to get to the bottom of this. 

not to get too history teacher on ya, but i feel this is important to mention: a lot of people conflate the showa era with the bubble era, and while there is definitely some overlap (the showa era ended in 1989, and the bubble era began in 1986 and lasted until 1991), there are distinct differences in the gals we saw in the early 80's compared to the late to mid 80's. so, i'll be pointing out the differences when applicable. 

either way, gyaru was born out of economic prosperity in japan. meaning, young people had a lot more disposable income. especially young women, as entering the workforce had become a popular decision by the early 80's. the main demographic was university students and office workers, which you may notice is a bit older than the modern day gal tends to be, but we'll address this a little later. no shade to these ladies, btw, i'm 100% sure they were killing it in their business attire by day and tearing up the dance floor in Bodikon fashion by night. 

speaking of which, we need to talk about Bodikon! like the term gyaru, Bodikon comes from the english words "body conscious", which were then shortened and took on the japanese pronunciation of Bodikon. you may be thinking to yourself, "hmm... that sounds a lot like a body-con dress..." because it does! the hallmarks of the Bodikon style was that the clothes were skin tight. although Bodikon is its own distinct style and aesthetic, there is an undeniable connection between it and gyaru, which will become clearer as i get through this blog post and the others i have planned. 

anyway... 

we have a group of showa era young women with money to burn, and clearly they enjoy having fun and engaging in fashion trends. they were called ikeike girls, and were seen as generally aspirational (very much unlike the reputation gals have these days). like i mentioned before, an ikeike girls' favorite pastime was clubbing and we will see that remain a staple in gyaru culture for the foreseeable future.

Bodikon fashion

they dont look quite like what we picture today as gyaru, but as we go deeper into the bubble era, we definitely see the style start to take form. 

in the late 80's, we see the emergence of paradise gals, or Paragals. a better term for these gals might be Ganguro or Gonguro, since if you look up old-school gyaru style on pinterest, you'll most definitely be met with magazine scans of these gals with that identifier. either way, they loved tanned skin, floral and tropical prints and motifs, and the general california/LA/surfer style. very beachy and emulating, well... paradise. if you know anything about gyaru, then you know we love a hibiscus flower and a tan more than anything, so these gals set the trend and continued old ones, such as clubbing. 

(a quick note about Paragals: i was only able to find information about them from one resource, which is why i included the term Ganguro/Gonguro despite it being more of a late 90's and beyond term. i'll link it in the resource masterblog i plan to post, but its possible the translation was inaccurate since further research under Paragals yielded no results. if anyone has any information, i'd love it hear it!)

Paragals

putting on my history teacher hat on once again to mention the relation between gyaru and yankii. as i am not an expert on yankii, i wont try to describe the ins and outs of the subculture and lifestyle. there are some key distinctions that keep it completely separate from gyaru, but there is some overlap in ideology and attitude. although one is more extreme than the other, both gyaru and yankii were seen as forms of delinquency, so there was some intermingling between communities. especially between teamer yankii's, who's de facto headquarters was shibuya, a section of tokyo. shibuya will become EXTREMELY important to gyaru culture as we continue. the Paragal style was incredibly popular by girls who frequented teamer clubs, and continued to widen the overlap that existed.

An illustration of teamer yankii's

as we enter the early 90's, the gyaru style continued to evolve. the Paragal style became Kogal, or Kogyaru as it was known in those days. in fact, Kogyaru was the original name for gyaru! Kogals were high school girls who liked the style of the Paragals, Bodikon/ikeike gals, and the club scene. they began tanning, dying their hair, wearing extreme makeup, everything you would expect of a gyaru today. except they incorporated their school uniforms into their looks: preferring cardigans to blazers, loose socks that hung over the shoes, and shortening their skirts way more than was allowed by the dress code. as i mentioned above, both Kogyaru and yankii was seen as rebellion and delinquency. they both defied japanese standards, both in the ways one should behave and in the ways one should look and dress. teamer yankiis took inspiration from american hip-hop culture, and gyarus by having light hair and tanned skin. they both had no time for the japanese virtues of obedience and conformity.

Kogal's in the 90's

teamers and Kogals interacted even more after this evolution, as it was common to see a teamer with a Kogyaru girlfriend. while their boyfriends hung out in shibuya, Kogals would flock to the department store shibuya 109. it carried the trendiest clothes, catering to the gyaru style and becoming the gyaru mecca even until today. see? i told you shibuya would be important! 

besides shopping, Kogals also loved clubbing. they would often fake their ages and use fake id's to get into the clubs. this is how the Kogyaru title was coined in the first place, as they would often be clocked immediately by club staff and patrons, calling them "kokosei gyaru", or high school girls, which was shortened to Kogyaru. 

in 1991, a new club popped up in tokyo. Juliana's. in my research, i found no indication that it was a teamers club like the ones gals frequented. but gals soon flocked to it anyway, because Juliana's did something no other club had ever done before. they were the first club in japan to play techno music. techno, of course, being a form of catnip to a gyaru. by 1994 when Juliana's closed for business, it had cemented itself as a gyaru hotspot and had introduced a whole new wave of gals to techno, house, and eurobeat: some of the music genres a gyaru cant live without. 

from the mid 90's and beyond, gyaru continued to morph into something a little more recognizable. it was shortened from Kogyaru to just gyaru, as non-high school students began engaging in the style. in 1995, Amuro, named and modeled after the singer Namie Amuro, gained popularity and was characterized by black turtlenecks, burberry plaid miniskirts, and black knee-high platforms. another style, not pictured here, was inspired by a celebrity around the same time. Ayu-gals were inspired by the singer Ayumi Hamasaki, and sought to emulate her in their style and it quickly overshadowed Amuro in terms of popularity. as time went on, more and more substyles emerged but i'll save that for another blog.

Namie Amuro inspired fashion

i hope you enjoyed reading this incredibly long blog about the history of gyaru! as i mentioned in my bulletin post, if you read it, i'm planning to make this a little series. so, please let me know if there's anything you want me to cover in another blog! also, fellow gals, please correct me if there is anything i've gotten wrong. i try to use authentic resources as much as i possibly can, which means me and google translate have become great friends... and that oftentimes doesnt bode well for getting the most accurate translations. please, let me know and i'll correct it! concrit is also welcome! is there something you think i should skip for next time? does my writing style make for an unpleasant read? let me know, and i'll try to make my next blog a bit more enjoyable! 

bye bye~! 

hope to yap again soon~! kiss kiss~ ☆⌒ヽ(*'､^*)chu