bunni

AZ-USA, bold: THE gyaru brand of the series. Characterized by flashy pieces, bold patterns, and sexy attire. The many substyles that fall under the brand are: tsuyome, kuro, onee, banba, ora ora, manba, ganguro, mode, ane, haaady, rokku, goshikku, and yamanba. (yes, literally all of them, it's that diverse)

Mint Sprinkles, pop: I remember when I first realized that Mint Sprinkles is just straight up amekaji. Baggy jeans with colorful belts, vibrant hats and accessories, colorful tennis shoes, and the goofiest t-shirts. Mint Sprinkles absorbed a brand from the previous title, Dazies. Dazies was the perfect example of bright, neon fashion, so I'll include the styles that Dazies would've supported. The substyles are: amekaji, haaady, ganguro, manba, and yamanba.

Le Spark, flirty: Oh, Le Spark, how I mourn you. Le Spark was characterized by its sweet and spicy patterns, lace, and sensual pieces. It's an extremely agejo brand, and I can see why they dissolved it and its taste for future games. Le Spark was divided after Trendsetters into Marzipan Sky and AZ-USA. One could take a glance and immediately recognize the glaring substyles: agejo, roma, hime, romanba, and himekaji.

PopQuiz, retro: PopQuiz is an... interesting brand. I love the retro taste, it's a lot of fun to put the outfits together, but it truly is eclectic. The patterns are all over the place, and they seem to jump between decades, rather than just the 60s. But there's tons of bright, neon colors (I'm pretty sure they absorbed some Dazies pieces), quirky patterns, and vintage cuts. Substyles PopQuiz supports are: amekaji, manba, yamanba, ganguro, and haaady.

Marble Lily, princess: Marble Lily my beloved, the sweet lolita brand of the series. There's plenty of classic and country pieces too, it's a well-rounded lolita brand. But how does it fit into gyaru? Easy! Marble Lily caters to: himekaji, hime, romanba, and even a bit of roma.

Soymilk, boho-chic: The boho-chic brands are always so fun in my opinion, just pure hippie fashion. This is where you'll find maxi skirts, embroidered tops, and tie-dye galore. I think some gals forget how many boho-inspired pieces pop up in substyles other than straight boho: ganguro, manba, yamanba, banba, and of course, bohemian.

Marzipan Sky, girly: It's exactly what it says on the tin-- girly. A super cute brand, known for their soft and delicate patterns and gentle image. Marzipan Sky isn't a glaringly obvious gyaru brand, but when styled correctly, you could make a coord straight out of a magazine. Substyles include: roma, himekaji, romanba, amuraa, and bohemian.

StageDive, edgy: StageDive is the punkiest brand by far, and a keen eye could notice the visual kei influences. Distressed clothing, the SKINNIEST jeans with chains to boot, and platform boots galore. The related substyles are pretty obvious: rokku, goshikku, ora ora, and ane.

Zhade, luxury: This includes its sister brand, Strava, which features purses. (why tf did they split it up? for this and the Cantatas like what.) Zhade is by far the most expensive brand, even more than the costume/cosplay brand, Teatro Amare. Zhade is what you think of when you hear luxury. Leather galore, geometric patterns, gorgeous evening dresses, huge sunglasses, and some of the best shoes in the game. Its range of influence on gyaru is small, but prevalent. They mostly cater to the mature substyles, but some pieces could be used for less elegant styles: onee, mode, kuro, and tsuyome.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

If you have a keen eye, you might've noticed that nearly all of the brands have a coinciding J-fashion. StageDive has direct v-kei influences, and of course, there's the two lolita brands, Marble Lily and Raven Candle, which cater to sweet and gothic respectively. Soymilk is very boho, but when paired with Marzipan Sky, you could make a mori outfit. It also goes to show much inspiration gyaru substyles took from different styles at the time. They would just 'gyaru-ify' the fashion-- making it sexier, shortening skirts, wearing heels. The further back in the games you go, the easier it is to make an 'authentic' looking gyaru coord from the late 2000s to the early 10s.