This paper examines the trends in women’s fashion magazines read by female students (vocational schools, junior colleges, and universities) during a three-year peiod from 2008 through 2010.
Magazines characterized as
gyaru-kei (gal style), such as
ViVi and
JELLY, were more popular among university students and junior college students than they were among vocational school students, while those characterized as
mohdo-kei (mode style or high fashion), such as
Soen and
FUDGE, showed the opposite tendency (p < 0.001).
ZIPPER, Sweet, Soup, and
PS did not show any significant differences in their popularity among the three types of schools.
The 2010 top ten popular women’s fashion magazines included
JELLY and
BRENDA (j
udai-gyarukei or gal style for teens),
Soen and
FUDGE (
mohdo-kei),
ViVi (
o-nee-kei or older sister style),
Non-no, and
Soup. (
nachuraru-kei or natural style),
Sweet (
otona-gyaru-kei or gal style for adults), and
Zipper (
sutoriito-kei or street style), proving the validity of classifying these magazines into six groups.
Structural equation modeling revealed that the lower a female student’s consciousness of fashion behavior was, the more she preferred magazines characterized as
nachuraru-kei, while the higher the consciousness, the more she preferred
gyaru-kei magazines.
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