Being More Vocal in the Gyaru Community

Lately I've been trying to be more personable on my blogs outside of events and lookbooks in hopes of updating here more often. I really hope this helps and also fills in the gap for lack of YouTube videos. I've been everywhere as of late and my skin has been acting up kind of. My semester is on te 27th and things are about to get dumb busy but I'm hoping because I'm going to class so frequently; I'll be able to sneak in some gyaru looks here and there for YouTube and instagram. That is the hope at least!

Anyway, with that said I've been trying to do more insightful blog posts that are hopefully relatable or helpful. The last one I wrote went so well that I thought that I would do another one. 

Today's topic is being more vocal in the gyaru community. For those of you who are new to my blog-believe it or not I've been actively doing gyaru since 2010/2011ish. I can't place my finger on an exact date but I was delving into that territory quite a bit. However, I have been into gyaru and lurking since 2007. I've always been fascinated by the style and I blame my love for electronic music, pretty clothes, and electronic music. Gyaru just kind of followed me everywhere when I wasn't even trying so it kind of came into my life naturally. 

However, I think for a lot of you-you're just now familiarizing yourself with me. Despite being a gyaru for a good eight to nine years now, I had always been adamant about keeping to myself and staying in my lane. Partially due to how cut throat the community was and also because of how passion and opinionated I was on certain topics. I also felt like due to my lack of resources that others would consider me less gal. I wasn't sure what people counted as gyaru exactly, so I did my own thing and enjoyed it in private save for a few events here and there. 

You think this would have changed after participating in the Liz Lisa fashion debut in SF but it didn't! I quietly kind of did my own thing. I shared on my own social media accounts and tagged things accordingly but didn't actively join any facebook groups or online groups anywhere. However, I did lurk and admired a lot of people's style and often got to see what was trending not only in Japan but also within the gaijin community. I also got to witness people come into the fashion and then depart. Which was sad but understandable. 

As I saw the fashion community slowly dwindle down in numbers the more pressed I felt. I felt like if I suddenly didn't become more vocal and put myself out there then maybe the community wouldn't exist anymore. Of course people admired the same sets of gals anonymously but I felt like that didn't count as being active. That was just admiring the same sets of girls who were somewhat active. More needed to be done. 

I made a promise to myself to be more outgoing and post more often. I joined the Amino community and began talking to other gyaru from all over the place. I was so nervous! However, I knew that maybe the more I actively posted and commented on other people's posts-maybe the more apt others would get to want to post more frequently. Maybe more gals would pop up out of the woodworks!

Low and behold, I feel like the gyaru community is slightly more active than it was a couple of years ago. I feel like the more others push people to talk to each other and have conversations, the more likely people are wanting to try the style, return to the style, or just...stay less to themselves like I did. 

Before speaking to others I felt really isolated. Hardly anyone I knew in real life did gyaru and it was something I super loved. I was always a gaudy bitch all on my own whether it be school or my own outings with friends. I felt like talking to other people who were in the same predicament made me feel less alone. Sharing my coordinates or finds with others really helped motivate me to want to do gyaru more often and socialize. 

I felt so good about this that I ended up forming my own localish gyaru group in California called Nor*Gal. We have a couple of members but we haven't had an official meet yet. I'm so excited to eventually have something fun planned and get to dress up with a ton of other guys and gals that love the same fashion as I do. I want to group close enough to have beach barbeques, carnival outings, picnics/our lame version of a hanami, Galloweens, ect. I feel like that's all in due time. I'm so inspired by other gyaru circles from all over the world that get to do fun things. I'm so inspired by talking to others and exchanging ideas. 

It's less isolating and really motivated me to do more. Not only for myself but eventually also for others. 

 If you're still in hiding-being a low-key gyaru(o); there's never been a better time to get to or want to socialize. I encourage you to share your coordinates, shopping finds, and overall just talk with others. Don't be worried about cattiness or bitchiness. There's always going to be a few bad apples but I feel like if you pay it no mind there will always be a set of friends that will make you feel right at home/secure. Pay attention to the difference between constructive crit and being mean. A gal might just be attempting to communicate words of advice or knowledge that might be helpful for you in the future. 

I know that I try to be extra mindful of how I try to come across when trying to out my info or opinions. At the end of the day all I want is for others to like what I like or find new things that I share neat or helpful. 

I think that is anyone's intention honestly. 

I hope in the future that the community can have an era where things are dumb active and people get to meet from all across the world. Where there's always things to look forward to and people coming in rather than out. I think that would be neat. <3