Red and blue letter media

Since 2004, there has been this concept in Japan called akamoji-kei magazines (Japanese: 赤文字系雑誌, English lit: red letter magazine), referring to the color of the titles of women's magazines being a hue of red (yes, pink is a hue of red). These magazines are marketed towards women who have just started working or who are in college. They can be seen as a guide for these women on how to dress, wear makeup and style their hair as they don't have to adhere to strict school dress-codes anymore. These magazines will only feature mainstream models so readers can see them as role models. On the other side, we've got aomoji-kei magazines (Japanese: 青文字系雑誌, English lit.: blue letter magazine). These magazines got their name from featuring fashion styles that are like water, fluid and flowy, making them hard to categorize. They are marketed towards people with an interest in fashion and other creative endeavors like music and art, heavily promoting the idea of being yourself to the reader. These two magazine types sprouted the ideology of akamoji-kei fashion and aomoji-kei fashion (mostly styles originating from Harajuku). In the West this can be compared to the recent "male gaze vs. female gaze" fashion trend.

Famous aomoji-kei fashion models Peco and Ryuchell

The "male gaze vs. female gaze" fashion trend rose to popularity after Julia Fox shared her experience with "dressing for men" by explaining in an interview with BBC's Woman's Hour: "My appearance was very much to please the male gaze in a way." Since realizing this she has started to dress for "the girls and the gays." This soundbite of dressing for the girls and the gays went viral on TikTok after she did another interview with British Vogue a couple weeks later (I feel like they knew exactly what they were doing). This fell together with the rise in popularity of TikTok-user Nikitadumptruck's video where she tells the audience that "she dresses for little girls who've been told at some point in their life that this is not a fashion show and for old women drunk on their porch" and VeroniocaShavie's ironic video on "how to attract a man." All of these trends combined kickstarted the "male gaze vs. female gaze" fashion trend in which women try to dress themselves in a way that would please other women instead of the other gender.

Julia Fox during Paris Fashion Week

The male gaze is a feminist film theory coined by Laura Mulvey stating that women, and the world overall, are depicted from a male perspective in film, literature and other arts. The female gaze, however, has yet to receive an official definition (some even debate its existence). This lack of a definition has caused the meaning of the term to become rather subjective and vague. Unfortunately some netizens have started using it as some kind of superficial Bechdel test, deciding on whether women are girl's girls if they dress for the female gaze or pick-me girls if they supposedly dress for the male gaze. This seems to be a new way of slut-shaming, but it isn't as noticeable since they are hiding behind a feminist veil. On the other side, you've got people claiming that the female gaze is just what women would find sexually attractive instead.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu during Live Empower Children 2024 (courtesy of Oricon News)

Personally I would define the female gaze in fashion as a way of enforcing people to find their personal style. In Japan, this is also what aomoji-kei magazines try to achieve without being linked to gender in any way. Nor is it used in a way to create a schism between those who have yet to find their personal style and those who have found it already. Also, keep in mind that some people aren't that fashion-oriented at all. They just wear what's available in stores without a second thought, which is completely fine because their interests might just lie elsewhere. Please keep this in mind next time you see someone clad in something that might be considered appealing to the other gender.

Thank you, and take care.