Here’s an interesting article about ‘Gyaru’ clothing for children.
If we look at the strong revenues of Shibuya 109 and the rise of ex-“Popteen” model Tsubasa Masuwaka, it seems gyaru fashion has pretty much taken over mainstream Japanese fashion. The male equivalent of gyaru is the yankii who have moved on from the extremes of bosozoku jump suits to a slightly more upscale style they call Oniikei (“big brother style”).
Gyaru and yankii tend to marry each other, and they also tend to get married much earlier than the rest of the population. Evidence exhibit A: Tsubasa Masuwaka got knocked up and married Naoki Umeda of Oniikei magazine “Men’s Egg” back in December 2007 when she was 22.
If all goes well, your children will be this cool.
So when young gyaru and yankii have children, the only logical thing for them to do is to dress them in the exact same style. Think about it: if upper middle class French mothers are putting their three year-olds in Petit Bateau nautical sweaters, why shouldn’t kyabajo hostess‘ four-year old daughters also wear a black chefon mini-skirt?
This concept has led to the “gyaru gaki” (gyaru brat) phenomenon, where a good portion of Japan’s young children now look like they are about to beat up the kindergarten teacher for catching them with cigarettes. Oniikei magazine “Men’s Knuckle” even does street snaps of the toddlers to show parents the latest kids fashions.
So now we know turning our children on to the joys of extreme taste is in vogue, we have to ask: Where can we buy such glamorous items for my kids?
Start with Coco Market, a site for “kids only.” This is the best place for child-sized leopard print pumps and sweaters with human skull patterns. Angel Kiss is also a good place for skull-motifs. Yankii parents evidently think it is very important to reinforce the concept of mortality to their offspring.
Dream Wing meanwhile has all the leopard print baby sleepers you will ever need. If all goes well, your daughters will end up looking like this.
Yes, the world is so topsy-turvy that it will be kids no doubt that embarrass their parents by not dressing “cool” enough. The only way gyaru gaki will have to rebel in the future is by sneaking off to piano lessons when they are supposed to hit the tanning salon.
I don’t know about you guys, but the author seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Gal. The whole article makes way too many generalisations, assumptions and even manages to discriminate against Gyaru. I would be surprised if he had done much research at all. Instead it seems as though he has googled some websites, seen a few Gals in Shibuya and picked on Tsu-chan’s shotgun wedding (he forgets to mention they were a couple for several years beforehand) – why does he also keep picking on Tsubasa (only one he knows probably)? Just because you have one or two examples doesn’t mean you can generalise D:
He also forgets to mention that these items of clothing are nothing different to what you can find/might buy your children in the U.S. or Europe. I personally wouldn’t buy the MA*RS-esque outfit (see top image) for my non-existent child but the rest seem to be cute, casual and fashionable.
What do you think?
Would you buy these clothes for your children?
Source; 1
