As Dr Masafumi Monden, a professor at the University of Sydney who studies Japanese popular culture, tells Dazed, gyaru borrows its aesthetic from both the "blonde valley girl" and R&B style.

Gyaru as a concept somewhat crops up in anime, like Momo and her friends in Dandadan, but the subculture, like the fashion of Harajuku, deserves more prominence in media lest it eventually die out.