Characteristics

Ganguro appeared as a new fashion style in Japan in the early 1990s and to date is prevalent mostly among young women and women in their early 20s. In ganguro fashion, a deep tan is combined with hair dyed in shades of orange to blonde, or a silver grey known as “high bleached”. Black ink is used as eye-liner and white concealer is used as lipstick and eyeshadow. False eyelashes, plastic facial gems, and pearl powder are often added to this. Platform shoes and brightly-coloured outfits complete the ganguro look. Also typical of ganguro fashion are tie-dyed sarongs, miniskirts, stickers on the face, and lots of bracelets, rings, and necklaces.

Ganguro falls into the larger subculture of gyaru (from English “gal”), a slang term used for various groups of young women, usually referring to overly childish or rebellious girls. Researchers in the field of Japanese studies believe that ganguro is a form of revenge against traditional Japanese society due to resentment of neglect, isolation, and constraint of Japanese society. This is their attempt at individuality, self-expression, and freedom, in open defiance of school standards and regulations. Fashion magazines like Egg and Kawaii magazine have had a direct influence on the ganguro. Other popular ganguro magazines include Popteen and Ego System. The ganguro culture is often linked with para para, a Japanese dance style. However, most para para dancers are not ganguro, and most ganguro are not para para dancers, though there are many who are ganguro or gal and dance para para.

One of the most famous early ganguro girls was known as Buriteri, nicknamed after the black soy sauce used to flavor yellowtail fish in teriyaki cooking. Egg made her a star by frequently featuring her in its pages during the height of the ganguro craze. After modelling and advertising for the Shibuya tanning salon “Blacky”, social pressure and negative press convinced Buriteri to retire from the ganguro lifestyle.

Yamanba and manba

Yamanba and manba are terms often used to describe extreme practitioners of ganguro fashion. Old school Yamanba and Manba; (particularly known as 2004 Manba); featured dark tans and white lipstick, pastel eye make-up, tiny metallic or glittery adhesives below the eyes, brightly-coloured contact lenses, plastic dayglo-coloured clothing, and incongruous accessories, such as Hawaiian Leis (often the Alba Rosa brand). Stickers on the face died out shortly after 2004, and for a while, Manba died. Yamanba is now more extreme, and hair is often multicoloured, and usually synthetic. 2008′s Manba has seen a darker tan, and no facial decoration (stickers). Hair is usually neon/bright colours, with pink being a favourite. Wool (“dreadlocks”), extensions and clips are worn to make hair appear longer. Clothing remains the same, although Leis are worn less frequently now. Manba and Yamanba are not to be confused. Yamanba has white make-up only above the eye, while Manba has makeup below the eye also. Stuffed animals, bracelets, bells and hibiscuses are worn. The male equivalent is called a “center guy”, a pun on the name of a pedestrian shopping street near Shibuya Station in Tokyo where yamanba and center guys are often seen.

Worldwide reception

It has become popular to try and imitate Manba and Ganguro fashion and makeup among Western girls, and there are different websites and blogs where girls like to post their attempts with photos and sometimes videos. The style is usually copied from Anime conventions, but due to the lack of up to date information and resources on the internet, and the difference in Western and Japanese eye and face shapes, the makeup can often look strange, or even like bad cosplay attempts; although Gal is NOT to be confused, or even associated with cosplay as both are completely different. Girls who follow the Gyaru fashion in the Western world have also taken it upon themselves to create “Gal Circles”; a circle of girls who all enjoy the Gal fashion, whichever style, that hang out together, much like a sisterhood. They are popular in Japan, to the point that a TV programme called “Gyarusa”, featuring Morning Musume’s Yaguchi Mari, was made. There are currently circles in the UK, America, and other European countries who are brought together via the internet. Most recently, two British manba from a UK Gal Circle were interviewed for BBC World Services in a bid to make Japanese Fashion more accessible and understood to the Western world. Other notable Western gyaru appearances can be found on Tokyo Kawaii TV, NHK’s popular television programme about current youth trends in Japan. A UK Gal Circle were featured in the “Himegyaru” episode, which aired in March 2008, and more recently, a Spanish Gal Circle have been featured, with the episode due to air in late august of this year.

Etymology

Ganguro practitioners say that the term derives from the phrase gangankuro. The term yamanba derives from Yama-uba, the name of a mountain hag in Japanese folklore whom the fashion is thought to resemble. Ganguro is now used to describe girls, or gals, with a tan, lightened hair and some brand clothing. This can often be confused with Oneegyaru (Big Sister Gal) and Serebu (Celeb), although Oneegyaru is usually associated with a lot of expensive gal brands, and Serebu focuses on expensive western fashions.

From Wikipedia