Popular model Kumiko Funayama, also lovingly known as Kumicky, has worked for over 6 years for Popteen magazine as the ‘God of Gyaru’. As she outgrew the Popteen demographic, she realized she should welcome new experiences and has already already graduated as an exclusive model last model, her last issue being this October’s Issue.

In the past we have featured articles trying to figure out why all these fashion magazines, specifically Gyaru, are dying out. In an interview with modelpress, Kumicky and the new editor of Popteen sat down and discussed the magazine’s future and the future of Gyaru style, and Kumicky herself explains how it changed her life.

Gyaru has boasted a long lifespan, but in recent years, the style has been disappearing from the streets. The model and editor have taken notice to this, and conclude that this disappearance from the streets has to do with the idol boom started by AKB48. These groups have their own specific look that is sought out after: pure and innocent, everything Gyaru is not. There have been attempts to bring it back to the music world, though more mature acts like SDN48, but they quickly disbanded and seen as failures.