#bodikon

Round 1, Match 60 — Bodikon vs. Dollcore

Bodikon (ボディコン), or also referred to as Otachidai Gyaru (お立ち台ギャル), is a style and subculture that was centered around the distinctive style of dress by the same name, the bodycon (the name of which is a shortening of the pronunciation of the English words "body conscious"), but was not entirely based around the dress, and would come to include the general female fashion of the Japanese Bubble Economy period. Bodikon is the direct predecessor of Gyaru, and virtually all Gal styles. The first “Gals” were Bodikon women, and the emergence of the first styles of Gyaru around 1993-1994 came largely from the “radicalisation” (described later on this page) of Bodikon style. This style was most popular in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s (usually around the period from late 1985 to 1994 at the peak of its popularity). The style was influenced by the Japanese economy at this time, as well as the widespread popularity of dance-based nightlife in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (especially venues playing Italo Disco, City Pop, Eurobeat, Hyper Techno/TechPara, and House music). There are also parallels with the mid-1980s Japanese trend of the satirisation and exaggeration of American fashion and lifestyles.

vs.

Dollcore (ドーリー系) is an aesthetic that is inspired by Japanese ball-jointed dolls, both antique and modern. It mostly centers around the transient beauty that lies in a doll-like delicate nature in the form of artistic photography and image edits, but also encompasses doll-like fashion and makeup. Common visual elements include soft filters, ball-jointed dolls, dolly fashion (mainly inspired by lolita and girly kei as well as other styles like himekaji), ribbon hairdos, outfit details, chunky shoes, and gemstone hearts.

Gal History!!🎀🌺: Do you know the OG “gyaru”?

The original gals or predecessors is Bodikon/Odachidai🪩🪭

The bodikon gals have played a HUGE part in leading gyaru to where it is today★

It was most popular during the mid 1980’s and 1940’s

Also another group was looking quite similar at this time as-well…

YANKII!!(Reference to my yangyaru post)

After a long day of work OL(office ladies) just wanted to let loose and be able to be themselves after being trapped in a office for hours they were considered a “different species”

Japan had an “economic BOOM” stock market was thriving so was their economy they called it “The Bubble Economy” which caused an increase in spending stores all throughout Shibuya was selling bodikon(body conscious) clothes in bright neon colors

You can see bodikon influence all throughout gal teenagers started to see the classy looking nightlife and wanted to participate too and started dressing the same this eventually led to the start of kogal

These clubs became places for highschool kids to have fun both Kogals and Bodikon kogals were very known for sneaking into clubs

Kyabajo also shows a lot of influence(which I’ve also made a post about) Kyabajo includes body conscious dresses and fans Bodikon also included body conscious dresses and feathered fans(Juli fans) and both have/had heavy eurobeat and trance culture with girls preforming on stages and/or dancing what’s commonly known as “parapara” people were traveling from all over Japan just to get a feel of the nightlife atmosphere!

(WARNING: 18+ CONTENT) Some Bodikon women were also involved in AV🔞(adult video) culture which is still a quite common part of gyaru today!

Here’s a link if you want to learn more!!

Thank you for reading!! BYEBYEEE(𓂂꜆◕⩊◕꜀𓂂)👠🫧

Bodikon

Bodikon, or also called Otachidai Gyaru, is a style and subculture based on the bodycon dress, but doesn't fully revolve around it. Bodikon is the predecessor of Gyaru, as the majority of Gyaru styles came from a radicalisation of the original Bodikon style.

The style was most popular in the mid 1980s up until about 1994, when what is now called Gyaru took over. It was inspired by dance-based nightlife at the time, and also by venues playing City Pop, Eurobeat, some types of Techno or House music.

Unlike Gyaru, Bodikon makeup was not as extreme. It included a light foundation, red or pink lipstick, lots of mascara, orange-ish blush, thick eyebrows, and single color eyeshadow.

The hairstyles were usually long, all one length and straight. This type of look was popularised through different idols like Chisato Moritaka. Lots of people also had so called 'tosakamaegami' or 'rooster hair'. This reffers to the hairs on top of the head being styled to be upright - very common for bangs. In the early 1990s, natural looking wave perms with some volume became more popular. For most of the popularity peak of Bodikon, hair was kept black. Towards the end, when it started to transition into Gyaru, bleaching and lightening hair to be brown or even blonde became popular.

As the name already says, the bodycon dress was one of the most popular fashion choices for this type of style. At first, this type of dress was popular in dance clubs, but with Bodikon it became something to wear out on the streets. These dresses were mostly paired with heels for a classy look.

There was another style of Bodikon that became popular by 1993 called 'sexy bodycon'. Women wore neon bikinis, transparent dresses, and extremely tight, short, or revealing clothes. Tanning was part of this style too, just like blonde hair. An icon that popularised the sexy version of Bodikon was Natsuki Okamoto, a race girl.

Bodikon visualisation