Alexandra Waespi, Gyaru beauty routines
Gallery / 17 images
Photographer Alexandra Waespi’s project began as a trip to Tokyo to meet the city’s nail artists, a community at the centre of some of its most expressive beauty cultures. Once there, she found that the scene extended far beyond nail art, and began documenting the young creatives around it. The series moves away from more familiar images of Tokyo as a city defined by exterior spectacle, turning instead to the private bedrooms of those connected to gyaru, otaku and adjacent subcultures that emerged in the 1990s.
Each time one of the girls let Waespi into their room, they opened their doors to a cluttered mix of nail art, make-up, kitschy accessories, colourful beads and toy dolls. “The spaces all hold the tools they need to create and build these characters and worlds and identities,” she says. But the deeper she went, the more she discovered how narrow surface perceptions of these subcultures could be. “I found how many misconceptions there are [about gyaru] and how misunderstood it is… it’s not just about clichés of big eyelashes, tanned skin and blonde hair.”
Below, as we expand on Waespi’s ongoing series, we find out more about each subject’s chosen looks – and what beauty means to them.
Photography Alexandra Waespi
How would you describe your personal style?
Chipi: Candy Doll – a girl who looks like a sweet treat that’s probably bad for you.
How does the aesthetic of your room influence your beauty looks?
Chipi: My room is proof of how I’ve protected myself all this time. It’s overflowing with all the cute things I love, and being in this space heals me and stops me from losing sight of who I am. Especially with work, there are times when I feel like I’m losing myself, so every day my room reminds me of the person I’m supposed to be. On weekdays, I come home and take off my ‘work armour,’ and on weekends, I dream about what kind of princess I want to become. It’s a sacred place.
Can you talk us through your beauty looks in the shoot?
Chipi: To bring out more of a little-devil gyaru vibe, I was putting mascara over my lash extensions with shaking hands, even though I was horribly hungover. Honestly, my make-up and the condition of my face that day weren’t exactly perfect, but I’ve always loved having really intense lashes. The thicker they are, the more they feel like guardian spirits protecting me.
I also can’t live without cool-toned pinks and nude beige-pink lip and cheek colours. Those cool pink shades personally feel healing to me. I’ve especially loved dreamy, ‘yumekawa’ unicorn colours ever since I was young. When I wear them in my make-up, I feel like I’m putting on armour. Even when I’m an old lady, I still want to be a dreamy-cute old lady.
Photography Alexandra Waespi
Can you talk us through your beauty looks in the shoot?
Noah: I kept the make-up natural like I usually do. I personally prefer more natural make-up on myself rather than heavy lashes or dramatic looks.
My hair has been blue for over six months now. I’ve tried a lot of different hair colors before, but when I first tried blue, it strangely felt so right on me. I think it matches the kind of aesthetic I love – a blend of cute, dreamy, melancholic, sensual and dark elements.
What does beauty mean to you?
Noah: To me, beauty is more about a feeling than just looking pretty. I love things that feel emotional, memorable and leave some kind of lingering mood behind.
How does the aesthetic of your room influence your beauty choices?
Noah: My room feels like a mood board for my nail art. The atmosphere, colours, lighting and objects around me naturally influence the emotions and aesthetics I create through nails.
Photography Alexandra Waespi
How does the aesthetic of your room influence your beauty and self-presentation?
Minori: What I’m good at, and what I truly love, is decorating things. I approach beauty with that same sense of decoration, so I believe that’s what gives my styling its own unique world and perspective. That’s why I want my room to be surrounded only by the things I love, and unless everything I see is decorated and arranged exactly the way I want it, I can’t truly relax.
Can you talk us through your beauty looks in the shoot?
Minori: Because we were shooting in my bedroom, I avoided bold colours and focused on creating a glossy skin texture, using purple and white highlighter to achieve that effect. Since the styling was pink, I chose green star stickers as an accent colour.
I love anime aesthetics, and because blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls appear so often as characters, I frequently wear blue contact lenses. I usually design and make my own nails based on whatever style or vibe I’m into at the time. During the shoot, I was really obsessed with the ‘Hime Gyaru’ look, so I used lots of pink, black, and pearls.
Photography Alexandra Waespi
Can you talk us through your beauty looks in the shoot?
Suzukei: For me, gyaru make-up is all about creating a stronger, more expressive version of yourself. One of the most iconic parts of gyaru culture is definitely the heavy eye make-up – bold lashes, dramatic eyeliner, enlarged eyes, and that striking, exaggerated look. Hair also completely changes the vibe, so I think make-up and hair are equally important.
For this shoot, I wanted to go for a classic Heisei gyaru feel, so I layered double upper lashes and added lower lashes to make my eyes look bigger and more dramatic. I wanted the overall look to feel flashy, confident and nostalgic, like the glamorous gyaru styles you’d see in old Japanese fashion magazines from the 2000s.
How would you describe your personal style?
Suzukei: I express myself a lot through fashion, and I’ve always been really drawn to bold, expressive styles. I grew up loving Japanese Heisei-era fashion, and lately I’ve been especially obsessed with gyaru culture and aesthetics.
AloJapan.com