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Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Ganguro (ガングロ) is a fashion trend among many Japanese girls which peaked in popularity from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, an outgrowth of chapatsu hair dyeing. The Shibuya and Ikebukuro districts of Tokyo are the center of ganguro fashion.
The basic look consists of bleached hair, a deep tan, both black and white eyeliners, false eyelashes, platform shoes (usually sandals or boots), and brightly colored outfits. Also typical of the "Ganguro Gal" look are cell phones covered with purikura stickers, tie-dyed sarongs, mini-skirts, hibiscus flower hairpins, and lots of bracelets, rings and necklaces.
Extreme trend followers further bleach their hair up to a platinum blond shade, get even deeper tans, wear white lipstick, multicolored pastel eyeshadows and tiny metallic or glittery adhesives around the bottom rim of the eye sockets (See Yamanba). Popular Ganguro magazines include Egg, Popteen, and Ego System.
In an interview with Tony Barrell, Shoichi Aoki, the creator of FRUiTS magazine, stated: "Ganguro was a phenomenon that was specific to Shibuya, about 1km away from Harajuku—which we have been talking about—and they were totally different so FRUiTS as a rule didn’t really take them up. Only a few times we’ve covered ganguro in our magazine. Where they came from is actually a mystery, no one really knows but there is some speculation that they were girls who were infatuated or fascinated with Janet Jackson or black American musicians or perhaps Naomi Campbell, the supermodel, but it’s still a mystery what their origins were."
There is some dispute surrounding the etymology of the word "ganguro". Some academics claim that the name derives from "顔黒" (black face), but (past) ganguro practitioners themselves invariably say it derives from "ガンガン黒" (exceptionally black). Some people see it as racist and compare it to the blackface of early 1900s culture in America.
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