New era! (My gyaru journey)

Today is the first day of the Reiwa era in Japan. Even if I live in Israel, a part of my heart and soul will always be in Tokyo where I left it~w

So to me the end of the Heisei era is kinda sad, I feel this era, That started just one year before I came into this life, Symbolize youth and freedom and eternal summer. I think it might be something else to each person, But this is how it feels to me when I think of it in a spiritual level (Of course in Japan Heisei had it's big traumatic events but Japan as Japan always gets back on her feet).

In the last few days Instagram and Twitter were full of nostalgic gal pics as all the Heisei gals were nostalgic about one of the Heisei things which is you guessed it- GYARU

It's weird to think of it as something that happened 20~30 yers ago. To me, As I was looking at my own gal history, It seems as I only go backwards in styles. I started loving gyaru back in 2008, When I was a senior in highschool, And this was the first time I went to Japan with my mom, Where I got me 2 gal magazines: Popteen (Cause I loved Tsubasa) and Ranzuki.

I was playing PoupeeGirl so I knew many brands and trends through there, As well as Ameblogs, And the main ones I was looking at were Suzu, Shizuka Muto, Ikemegu & of course Queen Tsu.

Then in 2009 I went to the army for 2 years and that gave me 0 time to do gal, But I kept looking for inspiration, tying to do the best I could to keep it alive in me for the moment I'm a free person lol

And the When I was in my last 6 months in the army I met Mayu through our blogs at Israblog, and we became besties and started our real gyaru journey together<3 In 2013 we started our gyarusa Akipoyo and we through the years met all the amazing gals that are now Akipoyo and my best friends.

I remember that style-wise I went from sweet himekaji to Onee and a liiiiittttttle bit of Agejo & Rokku (that I've tried but it's a no for me), And then I doscovered my love to Amekaji and Gyaru kei and from that to surf and oldschool and the style that I do today. I think that I wasn't happy with my looks until I started to do amekaji. One of the reasons was the fact that I'm not so comfortable in fancy styles and girly styles as I was before. Not girly as "feminine" maybe. I love boyish styles and tacky oldschool styles, I feel that with all the himekaji and onee, I tried to be something or someone that I'm not, And that's why it didn't come out so well. All the "trying to look dolly and kawaii" thing is it for me. I love it, But I don't do it anymore, as I've had so many years of self hate and "Why don't I look as pretty as my friends"

The moment I said "OK, I'm not a doll faced gal, I have other qualities", I was able to let this thing go and actually FOCUS on those other qualities, And for me my favorite thing is coordinating, Which led me to Amekaji cause it allow off brands and pants and casual and so on.

I love going back to basics, When the firwst gals didn't have the things we have today and not the gal things they had in the haydays of 2009~2012, They were just teenagers with no money, So they made small things like sticking purikura on their plain mirrors or writing on their photos with posca or mixing and matching, And I love how "plain" the some of the oldschool brands are; I started to love "ugly" thingsXD like unpopular colors or prints, Or just super basic things with my own touch on them. I think I made the biggest research on oldschool gal culture XD

(It's funny that I only wanted to wear a paragraph about the new era and yet here I am with a text wall I'm sorry guys)

Anyway, My gyaru journey wasn't always easy and it had ups and downs, But it made me discover who I really am and what I love and gave me confidence,

It made me accept myself and toughed me courage and how to have to power to be who you are and be proud of you qualities, it focusing on your flaws.

I really hope more gals feels that way, And I can say that Gyaru is such a big part of my life that I really have no idea how I'm going to be without it, So for me, Reiwa is just another gal era..;)

Love my gals, Loving this community, I could never be who I am today if it wasn't for you, Too.

Can't wait to have more adventures in the new era! :D

Georgie