On September 20, Whitestone Gallery Karuizawa was hit by a power outage due to a typhoon. A talk event featuring itabamoe, who was holding a solo exhibition, and Sayumi Gunji, a leading fashion magazine editor, was scheduled. Due to the blackout inside the building, the event suddenly turned into a guided tour in the dark with canvases illuminated by the light of smartphones.

Afterward, the group moved to the restaurant attached to the gallery, where the talk event was held once more. In this second part of our report, we will delve into the thinking behind the "modern female image" that itabamoe depicts and explore the potential of expression originating from Japan, all through the lens of the history of fashion magazines and the evolution of pop culture.

View Part One

The History of Women's Magazines and the Culture Underlying itabamoe's Work

Exhibition view

Sayumi Gunji: I heard that you also used to read a lot of magazines, moe, so I'd like to start by talking about the female images found in them. I began my career at “ViVi”, then launched a magazine called “GLAMOROUS” targeting women in their upper 30s, and later moved to a company called Condé Nast Japan, where I edited a variety of women's magazines with different target audiences, including “GQ JAPAN”, “VOGUE GIRL”, and “Numero TOKYO”. I was with “ViVi” the longest. What year were you born, moe?

itabamoe: 1991.

Gunji: So, I was right in the middle of making magazines around the time you were born. The 90s, from the Heisei to the Reiwa era, was a time when the image of women changed dramatically. 90s culture is booming again now, but for your generation, it's something that happened right after you were born.

itabamoe: I have only faint memories of it. I remember seeing my older cousin, and then as an elementary schooler, seeing gal and yamanba on TV and thinking, "What is that?" Later, when I was in high school, it was the era of a calmer, more refined gal style. The gal I thought were over-the-top as a kid now seems incredibly cool as an adult, and I feel like this style is possible again. It's a strange feeling that the era of the older girls I looked up to has come back around after our time.

Gunji: They say fashion repeats itself. Right now it's the 90s, and a little while ago, the Y2K fashion of the 2000s was popular. Each era has its own iconic female style. In the 90s, Shibuya and Harajuku were buzzing with energy, and Japan had the largest variety of women's magazines in the world at the time. This was because there was such a wide range of lifestyles and ways of living.

Back then, magazines were divided into "Akamoji-kei" (red-letter) and "Aomoji-kei" (blue-letter). The Akamoji-kei included the ultra-classy ladies of JJ, the college students and office workers of CanCam, and our ViVi gal, who were more of the part-timer (freeter) type. These three groups lived like completely different species. The Aomoji-kei were magazines like Sweet, mini, and Zipper, for girls who preferred denim. This was around the time the band PUFFY emerged. In Harajuku, you'd see Gothic Lolitas and Lolitas, and colorful, decorative fashion like Tomoe Shinohara's was called "Shinorer." Each group lived as its own distinct tribe.

itabamoe: I was on the Aomoji side. I read Zipper and was into Gothic Lolita. Looking back as an adult, I think Akamoji-kei was a style for succeeding within society, while Aomoji-kei was a style for pursuing freedom.

Gunji: To put it nicely, it was an era where you could get away with anything, and many people were dedicated to mastering what they loved. Street snap magazines also appeared, and their influence spread worldwide. Even in New York, only a small fraction of people are truly fashionable, but in Japan, you had kids with all sorts of fashion styles packed into small areas. In that sense, I think gal culture was very symbolic.

From "Women Riding on Someone Else's Life" to "Women Who Choose with Their Own Will"

Exhibition view

Gunji: When I was at "ViVi", the story that a magazine like "JJ" aimed for was: "A young lady from a good family graduates from a good school, becomes the wife of a man at a trading company, and goes on an overseas assignment with him." It was a society where it was normal to become a man's wife or girlfriend, and then a mother after marriage. When I was a child, it was common to be told to graduate from a local university, become a teacher or a civil servant, and then become a mother. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was enacted shortly before I started university, allowing women to choose career-track positions as well.

Among all this, the gal we featured in our magazine were often girls who became part-time workers after high school. This was a time when the number of part-time workers—people not tied to a company—increased, right before the Koizumi administration. They didn't belong to a company, didn't see marriage as the ultimate goal, and lived life choosing their own paths and wearing the clothes they loved without relying on anyone. The muses for this lifestyle were Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki. I was in charge of Namie Amuro, handling her covers for a long time, so I lived through that era.

itabamoe: I'm sure I must have seen some of your work from that time.

Gunji: I think the reason the gal boom is back is that it's now considered cool for women to choose what they love and how they live their lives based on their own will. I believe the gal flipped the script on the old Japanese historical view of women as subordinate to someone else—they completely turned the tables. A symbolic example is the charismatic shop staff of Shibuya 109, where around the year 2000, some gal emerged who could earn in the hundreds of millions of yen. Older men would frown upon the gal fashion of crop tops and low-rise jeans, and older women would call it "indecent."

itabamoe: But I imagine they would just say something like, "Whatever, shut up."

Gunji: Exactly. They transformed themselves by updating their look with what were called "tsukemono" (add-ons) like acrylic nails, hair extensions, false eyelashes, and colored contacts. The Netflix drama "Downtime" has also started, and I think it connects to this. The gal lived a lifestyle where changing your identity and appearance was celebrated, and being cute was what mattered most. At the core of the strong, willful women you draw, moe, I feel a strong sense of that gal spirit.

The Spirit of the Times Seen in Manga and Resilient Girl Power

Scene from the talk event. The power had not yet been restored at this point.

itabamoe: I love manga, and my generation looked up to the Ai Yazawa generation so much that I even enrolled in Yazawa Arts Academy after seeing "Gokinjo Monogatari". I also read "NANA", and from there, I went back to read works by Moyoco Anno and Kyoko Okazaki, and you can really see the spirit of each era.

In Kyoko Okazaki's time, there was freedom but no established order, and people lived self-destructively. In Moyoco Anno's era, it was more of the gal generation, or "girl power," where a stance of fighting against society through work was clearly established. By Ai Yazawa's generation, the need to fight had faded, and it became an era where people could share their inner worlds. As someone who has seen these changes, I think that over the long arc of history, women have increasingly come to the forefront, and the distinction between men and women has become less important.

When I was working as a company employee, I once read a column in a magazine for housewives. It described a messy drama in a high-rise luxury apartment, where the wife's status changed with her husband's, and she couldn't say anything about his affairs because of their social hierarchy. This sad picture was a huge shock to me as an innocent new graduate.

Gunji: It sounds like the world of the drama "Fishbowl Wives".

itabamoe: Yes. I thought, "So that's a reality that exists." That might be one reason why I'm living as a freelancer. We now live in an age where we can express ourselves, and I can share what I like, even the weird stuff, and ask people to accept it. Historically, this is an interesting turning point, and I want to incorporate it into my work. It really is that gal mindset.

Gunji: The British president of Condé Nast was a huge magazine lover, and his world was exactly like "The Devil Wears Prada". His office was filled with magazines from all over the world, but he told me that the Japanese ones were completely different. Overseas, women's magazines were full of photos of celebrities wearing high-end brands. In contrast, a single page of "ViVi" would have dozens of poses from models—it was packed with information. The pages were cluttered but flashy and cute. He said, "The culture in Japan is different." What "ViVi" aimed for was to be a magazine where girls could be the main characters, a magazine where girls looked up to other girls. This was a culture that didn't exist overseas at all.

Early on, K-POP groups like KARA had a girly, cute style, but after 2020, the "girl crush" concept—a cool female image that other women admire—emerged, represented by groups like BLACKPINK. This evolved into a style that seeks "unapologetic individuality." I feel that the roots of this can be found in Japan's gal culture.

Compared to before, we've moved into an era where girls, who used to search for their place in a male-dominated society, can now take center stage. It's become acceptable to dress in the clothes you love and surround yourself with the things you love. When I look at your art, moe, I feel an affirmation of living by believing in what you love.

A Counter to the "One-Size-Fits-All" Image of Women

Exhibition view

Gunji: In the world of advertising and commercials, there's a certain type of female image that's easily approved in presentations by male-run advertising agencies. For a family scene, it's a stereotypical family view where the mom is playing with the kids and the dad is driving the car.

itabamoe: You mean like the woman has to be gentle and have a pleasant smile, right?

Gunji: Yes, we've been confronted with coded representations, like pink for girls and blue for boys. But there are so many different values out there, and I think it's important to have an environment where stereotypes aren't forced upon us.

itabamoe: At my core, I want to draw the kind of woman that other women admire. I draw women with a "I'm cool, I'm someone you want to be, so follow me" attitude. This often results in women with a strong gaze, staring right out of the frame. In magazines and advertising, this style was praised and got me work, but there were also times it was revised or rejected. I felt that to be shown to the public, it needed a filter to make the impression milder for mass appeal. If that was going to be the entirety of my work, then while I do love advertising jobs, I felt that in this day and age I also needed to present my own vision. That's why I started creating my own art. Recently, I think times have started to change, thanks to artists like Ado.

Gunji: Ado was a huge phenomenon. Other artists like Chanmina and Awich have also finally emerged. We have this kind of trauma. There was a time when we were told "fashionable doesn't sell," and female groups in uniform-like outfits with long, standardized hair came out. Ado and XG appeared as a counter to that. They might be a bit intimidating from a male perspective, but everyone from elementary schoolers to high school students is crazy about them. They brought forth that "girl crush" trend, and I see it as the second coming of the gal. A dignified, willful, and assertive female image that looks you straight in the eye—the kind of woman that appears in your art, moe—I think we've entered an era where that resonates with everyone.

itabamoe: I hope so. Japan's kawaii culture is wonderful, but the other day I watched a Korean-style anime, and the way the women were drawn was completely different from Japan. The adults actually had adult faces. I also like and get into Japanese character design, but it often involves a lot of dream-like expression, and I personally feel like I've had enough of it. I want to take a different approach and directly depict Japan's girl power, the beauty of its women, and the way they are resiliently living in today's world.

Gunji: I mentioned Japonisme earlier, and Japanese culture is now rapidly spreading overseas. Kintsugi is now understood as "Kintsugi," and Japanese novels are being widely read, especially in Europe. Mieko Kawakami, Sayaka Murata, Asako Yuzuki—they're all women. Previously, Japanese literature was dominated by male writers like Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, and Haruki Murakami.

itabamoe: That's true.

Gunji: The reason Kawakami is so well-received in Europe right now overlaps with your work, moe, in that it's from a female perspective. Novels written by Japanese women are internal, have a certain emotional depth, and express a sense of solitude. In Europe, where society is currently facing negativity from wars and other issues, this kind of introspective expression and narrative was something that European writers hadn't really explored before. Now, female images and stories drawn by women are spreading rapidly. In Korea, Han Kang, who is my favorite author right now, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Korean novels are also booming, aren't they? They're getting attention for depicting the hardships of living in a more Confucian, male-dominated society than Japan, as well as family issues and the fact that it's still a difficult society for sexual minorities.

'It's Okay if I Get Scolded, I'll Just Put it Out There First': Traditional Japanese Motifs

Exhibition view

Gunji: Another thing that impressed me this time was your use of traditional Japanese motifs. Cultural concepts like wabi-sabi, which date back to the Muromachi period, are being re-evaluated overseas for their beauty in finding aesthetics in minimalism. I think it's a wonderful endeavor to carry your identity as a Japanese artist.

itabamoe: Thank you. I incorporate fashion as a basic theme, but when I thought about my strengths, I realized that because I've lived in Japan, that's the element I can express with the most confidence.

However, these things have history and tradition, so I can't use them superficially. On the other hand, I felt it was a shame that some people are so strict about protecting tradition that younger people become intimidated and lose opportunities to engage with it. The starting point for this series was my decision to just put my work out there, thinking it's okay if I get scolded. Once I actually started drawing, I found that there was no one like that at all. In Japan, the things we've been exposed to since birth are our most common language, and it's interesting that we can all discuss them. As an artist, it would be the greatest honor if people from other countries saw my work and thought, "Wow, Japan has some cool culture too."

Gunji: Tradition isn't just about preserving a form. There's a concept called Shu-Ha-Ri (protect, break, separate). You protect the foundation while breaking through and transforming it into something new. Kabuki has survived by breaking down conventions to create new forms. Having the courage to break the rules while also re-recognizing and shouldering tradition—I feel this combines the modern woman's way of life with the free-spirited atmosphere of the Edo period.

The dialogue between the two, which expanded from women's fashion magazines to various cultural topics, served as a fresh reminder of the journey women have taken to gain autonomy alongside the changing times. Instead of riding on someone else's story, they choose their own path based on what they "love." The women itabamoe draws embody this very attitude.

This concluded the main part of the talk event. Incidentally, the power was restored during the discussion, and the venue was once again filled with light. Next time, we will bring you the report on the enthusiastic Q&A session with the audience that followed the darkness gallery tour and the talk event.