♡ Once upon a time - my gal story ♡

  

Hello everyone! 

I'm back, for my first proper blog post! 

I wanted to write a little bit about my gal history. I think sometimes I get myself confused with it, and I feel like simultaneously a baby gal and a granny gal 💧 I had seen Lizzie and Puya both talk about their gal histories and it really inspired me to write my own up, somewhere, so I have a good record of it! I am hoping also (at time of writing this) to do a vlog also talking through my different "eras" of gal! 

♡ Introduction ♡

A long, long time ago - once upon a time - I want to say I was about 13? So about 2007 - 😰😰😰 - I was a little weeaboo and obsessed with one day become a manga artist, so I found myself on the Sweatdrop Studios forums - I don't think these exist any more, but the company itself was a UK manga publishing company and it was my dream to work for them one day 😂 Anyway on these forums I saw a girl selling a lolita dress, and I DESPERATELY wanted it! I really wanted to wear fashion like in the manga I was reading...and me and the girl ended up talking and becoming friends (Cecelia if you're reading this it's been 13 YEARS WTF). I didn't end up buying the dress, but Cecelia, who was much more clued in to jfashion than I was, one day mentioned to me "hey, I don't think lolita is your thing, but have you seen himegyaru?" 

I remember falling in love with it INSTANTLY. I knew that, if I had magic powers, I would wake up the next day looking like one of these gals - the huge hair, the princess dresses, the gloves, the lashes, the shoes - the entire look I was in love with ♡

But I was also 13, and had no money, and very much disliked myself and my body, and had school and exams and yadayadayada...so it got pushed aside and forgotten. 

♡ Early Days ♡

I will never forget, one day in 2012 I went to a local convention. I was 18, and it was the summer before I went off to uni, and I had a very busy weekend - the Saturday before I had been to a convention, and that Sunday I was going to a different convention, the same weekend, and I had to be back early to go and see friends for dinner. The convention was Hyper Japan, and I went and saw the fashion show, and there was a stall with two girls selling "lolita makeovers" for about £5.

They were lolita, but I owe them my gal history! 

I bought a makeover and I can't remember exactly what they did but they put top and bottom lashes on me. I remember afterwards they showed me my reflection and I had to stop myself from crying. I didn't believe it was me in the mirror. I had worn make up before, but it had never suited me - either barely there or thick eyeliner all the way around my eyes, and even now I don't like those styles on me. This was different. I hadn't thought I could ever be beautiful, before that day, and those girls showed me I could be beautiful. It meant so much to me, and honestly changed my life. 

After that day, I searched and searched for "lolita make-up" that fit what the girls had done to me. I couldn't find anything that had top and bottom lashes until I found a mention on livejournal of gal make-up with lolita, and then my memories of himegyaru came rushing back to me, and I knew I had found a way to give myself self-confidence. 

♡ In and Out ♡

Unfortunately my make-up skills in those days were terrible, and I was terrible at taking criticism...I was the worst of the worst newbies, I even threw a tantrum on tumblr at one point...I'm mortified looking back. 

 

However I went off to uni, and I had a lot more time to practise my skills, and chill out a bit 💧 I bought lenses, and tried to dress in sort of himekaji I guess? I went out clubbing in my lenses and lashes and over time everything became a bit easier for me. I still wasn't part of the gal comm, however, and I still couldn't do contour!

From there on I kind of dipped in and out - I remember I had a mini-surge in 2015, I was a baby gal for GAL V.I.P magazine, I went to a meet or two in Birmingham, but university was still my priority and I was definitely more into cosplay at that point. I bought a hime-style wig, I had DreamV dresses, I wore lashes every day, but I didn't really consider myself "gal". 

♡ Introducing Danielle ♡

The big "boom" happened in 2018. This is when I consider myself truly "becoming" gal, and why I say I've only been doing gal a couple of years. I had graduated uni, was a little less in love with cosplay and conventions, and I was living away from home properly, not with other students. 

This is when I tried to DIY my first dress. I hadn't been active in the gal comm, but I had been watching it, getting inspired, looking in from the outside so to speak. I think at that point I was still very stuck on my size - I was too fat, too poor, couldn't get brand and if I could I couldn't fit into it, and I just didn't believe I really could be gal. Then I realised I could customise a dress, gave it a go, and I had the wig, and the lashes, and the lenses, and one day I was supposed to be cleaning the house, instead I tried out full hime for the first time. And well, I never looked back! 

The rest is history. From then on, I started wearing gal as much as I could - I went to every UK meet I could, I entered the Hyper Japan fashion show that had inspired me all those years ago, I started posting in gal facebook groups and in the tags, and here I am today! I still dip in and out a little 💧 but when I think back to that teenager who never thought she could be beautiful I get inspired again. I look a lot different now - a few more dress sizes and wrinkles 💧💧💧 - but I love myself an awful lot more. 

♡ Here's to a gal future as well as a gal history ♡

♡ Love Danielle Rianna ♡