[art] Gyaru fashion freebie zine

 Check out my blog post below on making a diy gyaru zine for a girly y2k fashion market! I did 2 illustrations for it, the rest are photos and images online.

 https://starsbegantofall.com/2026/07/04/art-gyaru-freebie-mini-zine/

[diy] handmade lolita and gyaru on shop!

 Make sure to check out my blog and also etsy and ko-fi for handmade lolita and gyaru clothing and accessories! I had fun using up cute fabrics from my stash to practice making stuff for my atelier and I'm offering a few of those items on my shops. I have about 3 more fabrics I want to make stuff with, so keep an eye out the next 2 months!

 

 https://starsbegantofall.com/2025/10/12/shop-etsy-re-opened-with-actual-sewn-stuff/

 

https://starsbegantofall.com/2025/10/23/fashion-handmade-lolita-set/ 

[coord] Happy International Gyaru Day! 10/09!

Check out my impromptu himekaji and gyaru coords for Gyaru Day today! I also included links to the past gyaru coords on this blog as well, but you can just click the himekaji or gyaru (or I guess it's just hime gyaru) tags for related posts. Though I never have the energy to do my hair (and sometimes nails), I at least attempted the makeup today haha.

https://starsbegantofall.com/2024/10/09/fashion-happy-international-gyaru-day-10-09/

[coords] some Liz Lisa coords

 I have two cute Liz Lisa coords to show today! The first is my ideal example of what larme-kei is like (although to be honest, larme-kei is not much like this anymore lol) and the second is a more hime-kaji style. If you look at Liz Lisa's latest releases, they are not so gyaru or himekaji anymore, I would describe them as unspecifically cute and trendy Shibuya-kawaii. But hey, I can work with their darker colors as long as I get cute shoes from them!

I wore this black coord with pieces that I had been collecting for a few years to the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds orchestra concert (the FF7 remake) in August. Of course, you usually wear black semi-formal to a night at symphony hall, so I was excited to wear this unworn Liz Lisa dress with overskirt. I couldn't fit the belt, it was like 3 inches too small even on the largest hole lol. You can't see it due to my hair, but I also found the Eat Me hairtie from the Larme magazine, here my hairstyle was intended to reflect Aeris from Final Fantasy 7. Anyway, I love this outfit, it was stylish and special-occasion enough to get nice comments at the concert, but also cute and comfortable (without the belt). Although I might advise wearing plain nude socks under lace socks because getting sweaty feet in close-toed shoes felt gross.

[Dress, socks, shoes: Liz Lisa; hairtie: Eat Me; ring: Chocomint; other jewelry: handmade, off brand]

Next, I got a gifted yellow Liz Lisa dress from a fellow lolita from out of town that finally made its way to me. As I've mentioned multiple times in this blog, most pastel shades do not work so great with my yellow-olive Southeast Asian skin tone, but I felt like I made a decent looking casual summer-farewell coord, at least after running beauty cam filters on it, but even in a mirror it looked okay. I remembered to mosaic my face this time, too lol. I don't have a lot of gyaru appropriate sandals, but I love these star ones from Forever 21 which I almost never wear. The best part of summer coords is straw hats and bags, I haven't bought any specific j-fashion ones, so I just decorated a hat from Daiso with a handmade wreath and some random flower clips, and it worked out fine.

[Dress, earrings, hair clips, tote, rings: Liz Lisa; other clip: a Korean store; necklace: Peppermint Fox; sandals: Forever 21; hat: Daiso, decorated]

[discussion?] my journey into and out of Japanese street-fashion (lolita, gyaru, himekaji/larme)

I initially had worked on a longer post about how to incorporate all of my favorite styles into my wardrobe, but  one, that was boring and two, I felt like it was more important to talk about how I got into J-fashion, what I learned about myself in doing so, and why I feel like moving on, or more accurately, evolving.

Obviously, I got into lolita as a Japanese street fashion back in ye olden days, at the height of visual kei and Malice Mizer's influence on the scene, when anime was just starting to get shown in America. With my friends, I fell in love with visual kei music as a natural consequence of liking anime and the music in anime openings/endings (L'Arc-en-ciel, X-Japan, etc). I got into gothic lolita as a wearable form of my love for visual kei, since it was officially recognized by Mana in his Moi Meme Moitie clothing line, and I also preferred that mysterious and brooding aura over the other street styles seen in Fruits magazines.

Since then, I've moved onto classical and sweet lolita and other substyles.  But to me, Japanese street fashion has always been about the culture of rebelling against Japanese (or mainstream) society; getting a 9 to 5 job, marrying and having kids, living in society looking like how everyone expects you to. Of course, the clothes are the main draw since they just look cool, but more than that, I love the punk nature of wearing street fashion made popular by youths to visually express themselves, what they like, what they don't like. What never fully appealed to me about Western punk and gothic fashion and culture, I felt that Japanese fashions somehow nailed that attitude, by making it cute and historically influenced and a little more relaxed on the "rules." With Japanese fashion, I could express what American punks and goths wanted to express, but more wearable and attuned to what I already like (anime, history, cute stuff) and way less judgement because at the time, it was new and unique and unlike any Western subcultures already out there.

(Read more here...)

[coord] himekaji for Garnet Gateau

Back at it with a hime gyaru coord from Liz Lisa. I wanted to record my fashion walk entry for Bay Area Kei's Garnet Gateau online event. The theme was red, desserts, extravagance, Valentine's themes. I skipped all of the other J-fashion walks for 2020 after Okashicon, though I tried to peep in the panels, mostly because I was feeling sick the weekend of entering and no one else I knew was entering. This time even though I was also feeling sick and looked extra gross, I could not pass the chance to rock this one piece dress. 

[Dress: Liz Lisa; bag, shoes, socks: Taobao/offbrand; hairbow: offbrand; rings: by Marr; earrings: Kumacrafts]

For working with the theme, I would not change this outfit at all, it's perfect as is, with an adorable border print of a classy French department store window. I love this wig, which originally did not have a hime bump, I created one using the wig tutorial from a previous J-fashion event (pin two twin tails next to each other, genius!).  It even makes a vague heart/bow shape on my head. I thought about adding a necklace or choker but that made everything look too busy up top. Himekaji is about being casually flashy. I did use a previous set of  homemade bordeaux nails to match the winter/Valentine's theme and I added fake roses to the heels for a true princess look.

Anyway, I was going to enter the contest because the other J-fashion category had low number of entries, but decided against it in the end to let other people win (lmao). I only wanted to enter hime gyaru because it's rather under-represented in the US fashion walks, even though the dresses are almost as elaborate and fluffy as lolita. But I guess gyarus don't run in the same circles as lolitas. Very well, if I'm the only other hime gyaru in the lolita event, so be it.

Here's a glamor shot! Ignore my patchy dry skin lol.

[diy - image heavy] makeover white purse to Betsey Johnson leopard print gyaru purse!

In an effort to add new content to this blog without having to dress up and wear a cursed wig, here is a tutorial of how I remade an old white purse to something gyaru-inspired! Note, this is a somewhat  image heavy post.

Here is the purse, purchased for like $5 at Ross in the girl's section, made of textured fake leather. I brightened the photo too much, but you can see faint blue/grey stains all over the front and yellowing handles. I barely used this purse but it somehow got dirtied, as white purses will. I was going to donate it, but I never got around to it due the pandemic, so I decided to see if I can remake it into something I might even carry around.

[coord] J-fashion Himekaji/gyaru!

 I signed up for the Japanese-fashion style walk for Okashi-con (at home!) this summer and was featured in their virtual runway show! I just wanted to share the two outfits I put together plus a third that did not make it.  All 3 are Liz Lisa centered with my latest purchases!

First is the Liz Lisa Sunflower check dress in mint, with pink Liz Lisa heels. Necklace is Baby the Stars Shine Bright and off brand/indie earrings and bracelets.

Next is Liz Lisa cameo jumperskirt in pink with pink jute Liz Lisa sandals and Milk barrette and ring, with My Melody necklace!  The featured purse is also Liz Lisa perfume bottle in pink.

I don't have a good worn photo, but here is the Liz Lisa x My Melody 2019 collab flatlay I put together for a reference of how I want to wear it sometime when it's not so hot lmao. I added Baby logo hair bows because the pink matches somewhat. Anyway, flatlays are cute for lolita because they are so elaborate, but it's really the hair and makeup (and nails for gyaru) that really make the himekaji/larme look complete!

[coord] My Melody x Liz Lisa hime gyaru

Heyo... I should have another lolita event for Halloween and I do have the beginnings of a coord for that one, but the weather is still a bit warm and humid, so here is a hime gyaru outfit with this Liz Lisa My Melody one piece I got on clearance! I also bought these My Melody shoes from Taobao and I do have a My Melody purse and socks but the pinks didn't match so you are spared from that travesty.

[dress and purse: Liz Lisa, headband: Angelic Pretty, necklace: Daiso, bracelets and socks and shoes: off-brand, rings: H&M and Forever 21 and handmade]

As you can see, I love wearing hime gyaru and fairy kei in Texas summers, I hate sweating in my lolita clothes, getting gross armpit and collar stains on my somewhat expensive blouses. No way. Plus you could layer on fairy kei and gyaru in the winters, although the spontaneous breeziness could get lost under the coat and sweaters. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter.

[coords] Other Japanese fashion styles besides lolita

Even though I have been interested in lolita for the most consistent amount of time, I also enjoy the other Japanese fashion styles. Back in the old days, I admired young Japanese people for trying to break out of the mold that society has built for them through fashion, even if just for a little while, it was pretty inspiring, no matter what the style. As mentioned some posts ago, I got into lolita through visual kei, so I liked visual kei, gothic and punk styles a lot. I got into the Fruits magazine through my friends, though I was never much of a decora person myself. I also admired the lavish princess materialism lifestyle of hime and gyaru that I would see in anime/manga. Everything was cool to me, especially compared to the alternative fashions in America which were just not as cute and flattering and quality-obsessed at the time. (Jnco anyone?) I think the quality of alt fashion in America has only improved by now because of ability to get things overseas lol.

Here is a hime gyaru coord focusing on a Liz Lisa one piece I got in a lucky pack on my trip to Japan in 2014. I never wore it because pastels in this combination don't look so great on me, and the long-sleeve but short-skirt combo in a synthetic chiffon material felt weird. But I gave it the good old college try and I thought it looked actually nice in the end!

Liz Lisa onepiece, Forever 21 jewelry and hair accessories, and off-brand crown, hairclip, purse with Guess platform sandals.

Now the thing I love most about Jesus Diamante and Liz Lisa are the shoes, but I could never justify the price/shipping from Japan for them since I never wear heels. But yep, shoes covered with roses and puff-balls and feathers and crystals, the dream. I think big sparkly deco gyaru nails and short frill white socks would make this outfit better, but I'm too lazy to get those. My inspiration for hime gyaru style is of course, emi-chan, I highly recommend her blog for constant updates on the state of Liz Lisa releases, larme-kei and all things gyaru.

Here I did 2 ouji outfits in a burst of motivation one night, and then was too drained to follow through lmao. All coords were made using items I never really wore or had been trying to sell but no one ever bought, and I just wanted to give them some loving.

Fan Plus Friend blouse, Putumayo socks, Innocent World shoes, Alice and the Pirates shorts, Spin Doctor vest, offbrand hat and accessories.

The reason I never wore this blouse was because of course, the shade of red didn't match any other red item I owned, annoying but not surprising! I think a black jacket would have made a good addition, maybe lessened the mismatching blacks/reds, but the two I had were frumpy looking and I didn't want to mess with it at the time.

Alice and the Pirates blouse, Fan Plus Friend corset and hat, Zara jacket, Baroque x Sakizo tights, offbrand shorts, shoes, handmade accessories.

My inspiration for this look was my friend Tiffany, who lived in Japan for a year and always comes up with great unique coords, especially mori kei style. I love the look of mori and dolly kei, but by the time I finish putting on all those layers, I'm sweating buckets, so I went for a natural-kei ouji look here, like a woodland fairy prince. At least my legs were cool-ish. Those Sakizo tights needed wearing, anyway.

I had intended to give dolly-kei, mori-kei and fairy-kei a try, but 1) I didn't have enough clothing pieces to make a full cohesive outfit and 2) it was hot and I was lazy. Which is pretty much the limiting factor for everything I do in this world! But soon, I think I might have enough for OTT sweet lolita and then possibly fairy-kei/cult-party kei. Keep an eye out for those in the summer!