gyaru guides: thrifting, DIY, accessorizing, and more!

hi hi~! its time for another gyaru blog~!

im buzzing with excitement for todays blog!! today, we're going to talk about a few of my Antama Approved (TM) tips and tricks for thrifting, DIY, accessorizing, and more! im going to touch on everything to clothing to tips on galifying your bedroom, so i hope theres a bit of everything for everyone!

quick disclaimer before we begin: tips and strategies that work for me might not work for you, or even apply to you at all, so i dont think this is a very one-size-fits-all blog... thrifting, depending on where youre located, can be more expensive than just buying things brand new, but for me, thrifting is relatively inexpensive so im going to be focusing a lot on that. feel free to skip over or disregard things that dont work for you!

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okay, first things first... this is going to sound a bit silly, but before you even walk into that thrift store, swap meet, flea market, what have you, i want you to take off your gyaru goggles. i know, we're shopping for gyaru items! but youre not likely to find anything that screams gyaru at your average goodwill, i can personally count the amount of times ive found something outwardly gyaru at the thrift on one hand. not to say you personally wont find a unicorn in your local thrift, but we need to go in with our expectations managed. instead, i want you to think of the potential something has. for example, if i see a top that is completely not my style and clearly made for someones grandma, but i notice it has the perfect pattern, i'll think to myself, "is this possible to DIY? how does it fit as is? can i use this in another project?" if i see a piece of furniture, my thought process is relatively the same. but whether youre looking at clothes or furniture, i want you to ask yourself: is it worth it?

these pictures from a reddit post are a great example of using something for it's potential:

it turned out really similar to something from MA*RS, right?!

but buying simply for an items potential can lead to overconsumption, hoarding, and just wasting money. im definitely guilty of picking up clothes, leaving them to rot in the bottom of my closet, and by the time i find them again, ive already completed the project i planned for it with something else! so, when looking at something, analyze it. if you cut a certain top, is the fabric going to act weird? is it going to completely fall apart or fit weird after DIYing? is the work put in not going to be worth it? if the answer is yes, or even if youre unsure, just leave it! save your money and keep looking!

now, this point is directed to my fellow plus size divas: thrifting can be TRAUMATIZING. we all know how it goes, all the cute clothes are immediately swiped by people who want "oversized" clothes, and we're left with the stuff that clearly came from someones 70 year old auntie. but, and this goes for clothes shopping in general, size charts and sizes are lies. they simply do not exist. dont limit yourself to the tiny, almost non-existent plus size section in any store, and definitely not at the thrift. peruse the entire store! ive never been a medium in my life, and i have things ive picked up at the thrift that say medium and fit me like a glove. every single brands sizing is different, so basically, ignore what the tag says. instead, study how the piece behaves. does it have a lot of stretch? does it give you the fit your looking for? can the pieces features (buttons, clasps, ties, etc) work in your favor? if it fits, buy it!

when it comes to accessories, the gyaru goggles can come back on... slightly! definitely dont ignore a piece just because it doesnt scream gyaru at first, but i find accessories are significantly easier to navigate. dont ignore those huge bags of random jewelry! they can be found at almost any thrift, flea market, or swap meet, so theyre very accessible. theyre kind of like mystery bags, and i think its so fun to pick up a couple for cheap, dump them out, and sift through all the treasures. some of them can be duds, but when that happens, save them for DIY! you can cut necklaces to save the beads, take the charms/pendants off bracelets and things, anything!

speaking of... lets go more in depth when it comes to DIY, shall we? when it comes to clothes, there is a wealth of tutorials everywhere. i like to use pinterest, youtube, and tiktok the most. my biggest tip/suggestion is to invest in a good pair of fabric scissors, and go crazy! im a big fan of cutting holes and designs into t-shirts, turning shirts into completely different styles, and cutting designs out to put them onto other things as patches. i like picking up plain, solid-colored shirts and painting designs with bleach. i use safety pins and tweezers to rip jeans/pants. for accessories, i suggest taking a pair of scissors or pliers to things, and frankensteining them into something new. save charms, pendants, and beads to make things like bracelets, necklaces, or use them for deco. for my american friends, i also like to hit up places like daiso, the dollar tree, claires, and five below for kids jewelry. i'll either wear the pieces as they are, or save the charms or beads for projects. if you have a rainbow, dd's discounts, or buckle near you, i also recommend checking those out! buckle can run a bit expensive, but they carry a lot of western gyaru/gyaru-esque brands (ed hardy, true religion. affliction, etc), so i think its worth it if you have the funds. for my non-american friends, the equivalent of these stores are whatever discount stores/stores marketed to little girls (has claires expanded to other countries yet?) are local to you.

i also want to talk about another aspect: DIYing popular gyaru brand replicas! before the brand d.i.a. made its return to the gyaru space, their belts were and still are hot commodities. but not everyone has the money to spend on them, be it because the only option is to buy it from a scalper, or because international shipping fees are insane, or because the belts simply arent size inclusive. the good thing about d.i.a. belts, however, is that they can be very easily DIY'd! on tiktok, @lady._.lavender has an excellent tutorial for DIYing your own d.i.a. belt, and it is fairly simple. d.i.a. is not the only brand that can be DIY'd however. if you have the skills or even enough determination, literally any gyaru brand can be DIY'd, so go crazy! i also recommend checking out r/actualgyaru to find inspiration, the users there are so incredibly creative!

when it comes to DIYing furniture, duct tape and contact paper are your best friends! they both come in really fun, cool patterns and its a great way to elevate a random hand-me-down. they can also be easily removed if you ever decide to change it! painting is more permanent, but thats also a really good option! for things like this, pinterest is also going to be a great help (i have a DIY board here, and check out this blog as well)!

alright, this is probably the part a lot of y'all have been waiting for... when it comes to the stuff you've thrifted, how do we put it all together?

every single piece of fashion advise youve ever gotten from a lifestyle magazine, articles, or from your mom tells you less is more. but when it comes to gyaru, MORE IS MORE!! depending on what substyle you enjoy, dont be afraid to mix patterns and prints. wear silver and gold together. stack and layer whatever your little heart desires! im being purposefully vague here since this really is up to you (plus i have a little something in the works), and the sky is the limit when it comes to creating a coord. but i want you to remember: MORE IS MORE!

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thats all i have for today! i hope this was even a little bit helpful! like i mentioned, im planning to make a more in depth blog of how to put together a coord at some point, so i hope you'll forgive me if the last bit was sort, hehe... but i mean it when i say that dressing yourself as a gal is one of the most personal things in the world! so i hope my words can serve as a sort of guideline or something to consider, and not a hard-fast rule to live by! anyways, let me know what you think in the comments, or feel free to let me know of any questions or concerns! im thinking of updating the blog topic voting slightly, so please check out this bulletin if you want some info on it! the gyaru discord server is also currently in the works, and it should be available for people to join shortly... please look forward to it! as always, thank you so, so very much for reading! i love writing these blogs and spreading the gyaru gospel, so it makes me so happy that i have people that like to read what i have to say!

remember, antama loves you~!

kiss kiss~ ☆⌒ヽ(*'､^*)chu