Golds Infinity Diversified Agejo

As the decade ended and  the new one opens, I'm looking through various sales postings online, and a thought sadly still crosses my mind. As I scroll through pages and pages of brand name clothes I think to myself: “Damn, Golds Infinity got robbed.” What I mean by this is, Golds Infinity got robbed of the agejo gyaru crown.

Allow me to expand on what I mean by this: When someone thinks of agejo where does their mind immediately go to? Ma*rs of course! The brand is without a doubt, an agejo staple that has somehow managed to survive the gyaru brand purge that has occurred over the past ten years based on it being just that: an iconic brand. I actually have a theory as to why this is, but that is a blog post for another day. However, Golds Infinity wasn’t as lucky when it came to facing the brand name chopping block and that is a shame because they actually were more diversified than Ma*rs ever was.

Just like how people associate agejo with Ma*rs; the black and pink colorway is also something that avid fans also co-relate with the sub-style. Golds Infinity challenged this by always changing their brand image whether it was having items in multiple colorways outside of the typical blackxpink staple or by changing the overall style of what agejo looked like as whole. To this day, I get so thrilled when I find an agejo piece in teal, purple, or another really unique color that isn't blackxwhitexpink. It's something that I find refreshing, considering agejo has a couple of trademark things that make it what it is! Golds Infinity separated itself by always having items that grew. They were mainly known for the split swallowtail dresses/camisole tops with rhinestone brooches or buckles in the center breast piece. While Gold’s Infinity definitely had it’s share of “print” pieces that followed suit with booming agejo brands of the late 2000s, it also had pieces that would focus more on a woman’s silhouette or body shape.

There were pieces that had three-layered tiered skirts that were low at the hip or one-pieces that were loose at the middle but hugged at the breasts and thighs. They focused on using not only eye-catching “jewelry” pieces but also included different patterns or stripes or experimented with fabric textures such as lace or satins. A lot of thought was placed into each piece that was produced during this time and I am so lucky that I have a few pieces that I have tucked away as treasures in my wardrobe. Surprisingly in the resell market, detailed Golds pieces are becoming harder and harder to find. This is something that is unavoidable but certainly breaks my heart as someone who low-key likes to begrudgingly admit that I would choose Golds Infinity over Ma*rs any day of the week despite people associating me with the brand quite often.

So what converted me into being a Golds gal you ask? I was just as guilty at first thinking that Golds Infinity was lacking as a brand and was boring in comparison to Ma*rs. One day before I learned about the joys of using shopping services, I found that YesStyle was having a sale in order to clear out their remaining J-Fashion inventory. I found a Golds Infinity dress for super cheap and decided to buy it. I hadn’t bought a J-Fashion piece in forever and I wasn’t about to pass up an affordable gyaru brand. My teal lace dress came in the mail and as soon as I tried it on, I fell in love. The color was beautiful and eye-catching. You don’t see blues or teals (cool-toned colors) often in agejo so it was exciting trying on a piece that felt unique to the typical colorway. I also loved how it really showcased the color of my hair and really went with the make up I used to wear a lot at the time. I loved the intricacy of the piece I bought as well. There will little detailed I missed when I purchased the dress. There was a chain on the back that had a heart charm, there was the infamous jeweled brooch, the mid-sleeves were layered tiered lace that ruffled out nicely, the neckline was a square-princess cut, there were geometric jewels sewed into that neckline. Sometimes, stock photos don't do a clothing piece. Also as I realized with Golds Infinity by seeing them at Anime Expo one year and dismissing them before falling in love later; sometimes a piece of clothing looks way better on a body than it does on the clothing hanger on a rack. 

Suddenly, I had an immense appreciation for Golds Infinity. I had highly underestimated them as a brand. My first second-hand service haul immediately features a gorgeous Golds Infinity piece. This time I bought the typical blackxpink colorway. However, the piece I bought was beautiful. On me, it was a bit of a bodycon dress that included a stripe print with an asymmetric layer-just so that the stripes would go two different ways giving someone’s body a different illusion. It definitely highlighted my thigh area (to be fair that is what old-school agejo is supposed to be highlighting) and chest area because the dress clung to those places. I loved that this piece also included an infamous brooch, a V-shaped neckline with gold studs along it, and a dangling chain that went from the brooch to along the whole side of my body.

Suddenly, I didn’t just have an appreciation for them as a brand. I started wanting to be a Golds girl in every aspect. I was in love. That same year, I wore Golds Infinity to my birthday party. I had opted for a more modern/trendy onee-gyaru style dress that I will explain in a little bit. Ma*rs felt like a status symbol to flaunt in the gyaru community but Golds Infinity felt like the under-loved sister that made me feel confident in a different type of way. Anytime I have worn Golds Infinity, someone has asked where I got the piece from. People immediately recognize Ma*rs, but do not know Golds Infinity. Despite this, the Golds pieces I wear always get a lot of kind compliments and a lot of people wonder what gyaru brand it is.

Another concept of Golds that I love is that I can wear a piece up or down. Not that you couldn
’t do that with other Agejo brands, but I have certainly worn a variety of pieces from the brand out to class with a pair of leggings and flats. Sometimes I’ll remove the chains or brooches in order to not look as extra. It never detracts from the look and still makes me feel confident but in a more mature type of way.

Which brings me into my next topic, what the hell happened to Golds Infinity? They just disintegrated out of of the blue. There seemingly wasn't a goodbye announcement or anything from what my memory can recall.

 Golds unlike Ma*rs, went in a different direction eventually. They began to cater to an onee-gyaru market that was slowly growing but wasn’t exactly gaining the type of attention that agejo was considering the hype that comes with being in Ageha. Golds did have a sub-label called Albina which was short-lived that was a nod to their older agejo pieces but it surprisingly didn’t last long. This shocks me mainly because while Albina did certainly made cheaper, the clothes actually fit me better. It’s like the designers decided to cater to what would fit more body types. I’ve gained weight compared to when I was a skinny legend in my youth, but I somehow still fit Albina. The fact that this opens up possibilities to a wider audience with a different body type sadly didn’t save them.

With that being said, it would be a little while before Golds could carry their weight in onee-gyaru territory and honestly? It was extremely short-lived. On my 24^th birthday, I ended up buying my first onee-style Golds piece. It was a gorgeous black bodycon dress with opening at the shoulders and dangling pearls at the sleeves. The floral print was red and orange toned...and boy, did it cling onto me. However, I felt my age. I felt like a lady.

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t was a totally different concept from the other Golds Infinity pieces I owned but still lived up to exactly what the brand focused on: accentuating the female form. That was what I loved about the brand as a whole. There was something about how the clothing fell on you or clung to all the right places that just felt special. Even without the embellishments of the previous collections, I didn’t feel like I was lacking or under-dressed. Ma*rs at the time relied on prints as a form of charisma and in a sense? For a while, I felt like they lost their brand concept or direction as they attempted to breach into the streetwear market without much success. They had abandoned the things that made Ma*rs’ brand a trademark for trend.

However, Golds at this point in time was not going any where in terms of them developing as a brand. Before their death, they released a mini-kyaba-collection of formal dresses and a couple of DaTuRa-esque pieces that was enough to be a nod to the shifting trends at the time but this metamorphosis was too little and too late. Gyaru as a whole has went through a very large style shift (I’ll make a blog about this too eventually because I have a bone to pick with people about it!) in the past couple of years and what made Golds Infinity stand out happened to also be what made it less cool. Brands were less about the female form and more about comfort-something that went against the whole craftsmanship of a Golds Infinity piece of clothing. Thus, they died and my heart was broken.

This under-loved agejo brand certainly still has a special place in my heart. Because they’re not as large as the flagships under the Saja/Lilimpark label, there are fewer pieces and a bigger market of people wanting any sort of old-style agejo they can get now. Thus, making extremely detailed Golds Infinity rather difficult to find. In general, I’ve noticed the gaudy gyaru brand market as a whole drying up (there’s only so many clothes for so many people you know?) and it has made me so thankful that I had the foresight to know this and dive into investing in things before they become borderline obsolete and a pain to find at a realistic price point. Nobody wants to pay 100+ for dated brand. There are many different Golds pieces on my wishlist and I always fondly fawn over the glory days of everyone being an extra bitch.I'm still longing for that rhinestone spilt camisole that Ai Tanaka infamously wore in an Egg ParaPara video. It's iconic and reflective of an era that has long passed but is one I still love to dote upon. 

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With this being said, I have a question to my readers. Do you think agejo will ever make a come back? There’s recently been a comfort/not being sexy for the sake of comfort (or at least if it’s a sexy it’s an instagram baddie type of thing-street wear) that has even made Ma*rs have to entirely change their brand concept and what demographic they cater to in order to still stay alive. Koakuma Ageha died for a second time due to SakuRina leaving definitely, but also because the entire look of kyaba-girls wasn’t agejo anymore but was way more lady-like and is why AneAgeha still exists. Do you think that glamorous Barbie-like image will ever come around again during our time or do you think when it does, we’ll be envious of the young girls who get to flaunt that shit off because we’re too old to do it? If agejo made a comeback do you think deceased brands would rise from the grave or do you think newer brands would adjust to the market? If so, which ones do you think would have some agejo-style potential? Let me know in the comments!