Hello! How are you?
I'm back with a post I wanted to do since a while
Some time ago while I was reading my oldest posts I was kinda cringing at how bad I was at the beginning and I thought to myself "Gosh I wish somebody told me since then what I needed to improve and HOW"
In
this blog I mostly just post my outfits, dailylife & shopping, but
sometimes I also posted reviews, mini tutorials, scans and other
informative posts,
so the idea of sharing what I learned during my gyaru journey crossed my mind and I decided to write down a post, but since it's really a lot to talk about I decided to make this some kind of a series lol in each post I'll try to talk about a different topicI hope this is somehow useful!
Pls keep in mind that this is MY experience and it worked good for me, you don't have to agree or do what I do, I just wanted to share my knowledge hoping it'll help some other people :D
So let's start!
FROM AN OBAA GYARU 🌸 #1: How to break down coords, thrifting, mix&match and other suggestions
So the first, basic thing you need to learn is
breaking down outfits
Doing this exercise helps you understand how a gal look is made.
Here's a quick example with an agejo coord from Himena:
Her style is agejo as I said, so let's break down her look, and that means analyze and write down every single thing that makes her look unique:
- Big curly volume hair
- Mix of barbie pink shades over black color
- Sexy stockings
- High heels
- Accessories in contrast with the main color
You can go on writing more details, like round-pointed shoes, bow details etc
Starting from this you now have a "bluesheet" of what her agejo coord looks like; that means that to recreate from zero a similar look (aka agejo) you'll have to do the same steps. It doesn't mean you have to find the same exact pieces she's wearing, but that you can find pieces with the same features and play with the other details; that takes us to the next point:learn to find gal pieces in regular fashion pieces
Basically here we're doing the same thing we did with her coord: choose a piece you want, write down what makes it special and search similar pieces using its features as search keywords. Here's an example:
Let's pretend we want to recreate the co*de on the right, from the model sitting on the chair
We have NOTHING like what she's wearing
So let's break down her coord:
- lace headband
- big beads necklace
- black leggings with cutout feet
- peep toe shoes
- striped off shoulder loose sweater dress.
The special item here is obviously the dress (cuz leggings, shoes and acce are easy finds) and we need to find it
So now let's break down the dress:
- striped
- off shoulder
- loose
- tight band on the bottom
- peach/warm tones
Now we'll use those features as keywords on Vinted/Depop/Wallapop/Poshmark/etc. Remember that people from all the world are selling on those apps, so do your research using those keywords in any language.
For examples, I've searched the first keyword, "stripes", in french and I found this:
Kinda cute but let's dig more...
This one is perfect for me! We could search more for a peach toned one but I'm in love with this one XD
Another example with the Tralala top/dress this model is wearing:
Break it down!
- babydoll shape
- polkadot pattern
- ruffles
- ribbon detail in the middle of the chest
And let's search!
Similar but I think I can find something better...
Almost perfect (try to add more filter like colours or sizes)
And there it is!!! It's almost like a replica XD
This maybe looks like a lot of work but I promise it gets easy once you're used to do it!
You can apply this "breakdown" rule almost to everything
For example, if you're obsessed with a certain style or model, you can breakdown her whole style to get a general "idea" of what you need to get the general look, like I did for the Himena example
That's also why a lot of vets suggest to choose a model as reference and literally copy her look, doing it for a while should help you to understand at first glance what's gal and what's not
But what about when you need basic cheap pieces for everyday looks, but you don't have any reference?
That's when it's useful to know
western brands that sells clothing adaptable to gal fashion
Also in this case the use of selling apps like Vinted etc came handy
BUT you need to know what to search, right?
And that's my job www XD I literally spent the last 10 years collecting brands that somehow resembles gal brands
I'll avoid you all this work and share with you the brands I know (subdivided per style/brand reference & along with some useful extra keywords [those are tested on Vinted only for now]; I'll update the list if I discover more): try doing cross search (input keyword with brand filter)!
Ganguro/Old School (Alba Rosa inspired):
Billabong, Rip Curl, Roxy, Longboard, Banana Moon, Fishbone (keyword: hibiscus, beach)
Himekaji (Liz Lisa inspired):
Stradivarius (usually spring collections), Baby Angel, Fiorucci,
Fishbone (usually winter/young girls collections), H&M/Terranova
(usually summer collections), Lisa Rose (only the 150/15years-160/16years pieces), Pull&Bear, Atelier Fix Design
(keyword: lace, boho)
Agejo (Ma*rs/Golds Infinity inspired):
Indian Rose,
Artigli, Tally Weijl old 2008/2012 collections, Miss Sixty, Denny Rose (keyword:
hot pink, leopard, zebra, animalier, club, chain)
Tsuyome/Anegyaru (d.i.a inspired):
Stradivarius (usually autumn/summer collections), Fishbone, Bershka
(usually summer collections), some Pois (Pois is the brand name) tops (keyword: coachella,
cowgirl, texas)
Amekaji (Co&Lu inspired):
Little Miss Sunshine, Disney, Oysho, Chupa Chups, some Fix Design prints, Pois (keyword: college)
Rokku (Gilfy inspired):
Fishbone, Rosebud, Amisu, Gémo, Happiness, Jennifer, Rifle (keyword: rock, studs)
Atsuzoko/platforms:
Quanticlo, Demonia
Obviously there's a lot more, like ONLY did some nice pieces like the denim puffy vest that all the amekaji gals wear or my fav pink striped dress XD but it's not in the list cuz I preferred to list brands that just searching them gives you lots of gal stuff, instead brands like ONLY or Toumai only did a few pieces occasionally so they're not really useful unless you know which specific item you're looking for
And if the item doesn't look exactly like you wanted,
just diy it!
Add ruffles, bows, studs, whatever it needs to look gal; you can find those in fabric shops or even aliexpress!
In craft&arts shops you can also find fabric colours to add design and details on plain clothing
And searching for pearls&beads you can make your own accessories too (I have a couple of tutorials here, in my pinned posts)
Anyway, even when you've choose what you're looking for, always remember to
buy thinking about mix&match
Always think about how you'll wear it before buying
Think
ahead which accessories you need and if you have it, to avoid ending up
with beautiful items that lay catching dust cuz you can't literally
match them with anythingThe best thing you can do is build your wardrobe from a few good brand staple pieces (things that can go with a lot of stuff like denim or black bottoms) and then add more cheap clothing that go with them to mix them and wear them as much as you can
From this let's move onto the next point:
Practice how to MIX & MATCH
Mix&match in gal fashion is different from in lolita or other fashion styles, cuz it's not just about making the shoes matching with the bag etc
It's more a "match and then mix", and this is what makes gyaru fashion so special imho
Examples:
Black&white outfit with pink shoes matching the pink rose on her white minihat (which has polkadots like her skirt btw)
Black&white outfit with red shoes matching the red print on the white tee
Kanako's yellow boots matching the yellow prints on her top & jacket
If you ever dressed lolita fashion you probably know how important is to match your outfit, for example white shirt + black jsk + white socks + black shoes
But what makes gal special is the next step, to mix
You create a outfit with a 2 color combo, for example black x white
It's so basic, right?
Now add a piece in a contrast color, like a pink bag or yellow shoes
Boom! Your coord is 300% more interesting now! XD
It's even cuter if the contrast color element somehow matches a piece of the 2 color combo, like this:
As you can see here, Okarie made her pink uggs match with the pink ribbon detail on her overall (probably a brooch) and even the pink detail on her top print!
Another thing you can learn from her outfit is that another way to add contrast to the color combo is adding a central denim piece, like her overall or a skirt/pants!
Last but not least is
play with layers to make your coord more special!
My dear Georgiepiyo already made the best blogpost about it (LINK HERE) so I'll leave this topic to her But basically you can make any outfit 200% more gal by adding layers
For example, try adding a vest over your dress
Stock up with complementary items like tank tops, bra tops, vest, cardigans, crop tops etc and use them to make your outfit more interesting!
(I really recommend to read Georgie's post to understand this better)
Another advice (that actually can be placed together with the previous one) is
play with accessories
Using the previous 2 points (contrast/layers) add more charm to your co*de using a lot of accessories
But keep in mind that it's not only about quantity but also about quality in terms of coordination, so don't just pile up whatever accessories you find, but make them match to your whole coord or a simple detail of it (like the brooch in the Okarie coord), like bracelets matching with your top prints
The best part of this is that you can easily make your own jewelry to match everything you have, and that's what I usually do XD
I search on mercari/fril or magazines pictures of accessories I like and made them myself!
Well that's it for this first post XD I hope you find it interesting or useful (or even both!XD), and pls remember that what I wrote is just my thoughts and what I learned through my experience, if you think I'm wrong you can write me a comment about it! (All the pictures used here belong to their original owners)
Also, what do you want to read next? About hair? Auctions? Or what else?
Let me know what you think :3
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