Upsides to Being Alone

You've seen them everywhere; gyaru on the front of magazines, gyaru on various blogs on the big old Internet, gyaru in the streets-- or maybe not. Living in the North East of England, I find that finding other people who share similar fashion interests to be non-existent. Nil. Nope. Nada. Not gonna happen. I've heard of the lolita meets with their frilly petticoats, I've heard of V-kei meets with their overly impressive hair but I've never heard of a gyaru meet-up this far up North.

It feels like all of the gyaru in the UK live further South. (In fact, when I met one of them I sort of drunkenly screeched, "I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT!" oops)

As a North Eastern, Newcastle born and bred gyaru, I often find myself running around on my own with my somewhat eccentric clothes and make-up which often leads to negative comments, even from a city that prides itself on big hair and make-up. I'm sure there are other girls out there who have to settle for being alone whilst being gyaru.

There's plenty of things to do whilst being by yourself.

1. Being confident.

I cannot stress this enough. If you're going to act shy then perhaps it's not a good idea to wear a fashion and make-up style that is absolutely going to garner attention because it'll make you vulnerable and an easy target for people who want to make rude comments. Gyaru fashion is different from the norm and whenever something is different people will look. Being by yourself makes you an even bigger target to people. Confidence is key.

2. Experiment with new things.

You know those times when you want to try something new and it just goes completely wrong? Without having other gyaru peers who can pick up on your make-up, fashion, hair, etc. mistakes, being by yourself means that you can laugh it off to people who ask. That extra line on your eyeliner? Totally intentional. Just because you know it isn't doesn't mean others need to.

3. Shopping becomes easier.

As a girl, there's nothing better than shopping. I could spend hours in a store just looking at what's there. One of the fortunate things about being a lone gyaru is that I can spend as long as I want in a store without feeling like I'm holding the other girls up, or I can leave when I'm ready without waiting for anyone. It's nice to go browsing by yourself once in awhile.

4. There's less pressure.

Maybe I've got this all wrong but there's less pressure on being a 'perfect' gyaru when you're by yourself. Sure, there's standards to upkeep but there's no urge to be constantly dressed up to the 9s. If I want to dress gyaru and maybe wear a pair of flat shoes, it's comforting knowing there's not going to be anyone turning their nose up at my shoes when I could've worn a cuter pair of heels.

5. Be who you want.

I think this one goes without saying. I've heard of some girls sucking up to others to score brownie points with them which I think is just wrong. If you're by yourself there's no one to suck up to and you can be yourself, or the person you want to be. There's no need to tell someone who's outfit completely sucks that they look great, there's no pressure on feeling like you're underdressed compared to your friends, and there's no one to compare yourself to and nitpick over. It might suck being alone but there will always be the opportunity to be the person who you want to be; in some friendship groups there's so much fakeness to make even the fakest of people sick. You're free to be who you want; you can nerd out over what you want without worrying what the other gyaru will think, for example.

There's a plethora of other reasons, of course, but these are what I can think of. If you have any further tips, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Stay sweet! ♥