Petit Seven was a fashion and information magazine for teenage girls published every other week by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on January 20, 1978, and from the early to mid-1990s, it boasted an overwhelming circulation among fashion magazines for teenage girls; It lasted up until its suspension in March 2002. The models that appeared in the magazine were called “Petitmo”, and many of them were active as models, talents, and actresses even after graduating from Petit Seven.
This is something that’s going to be further discussed in another post but basically, Petit Seven was all about providing fashion trends from a reader model’s perspective while still being real. The reader models may not have been decked out in brand, or they may have been presented as regular girls rather than have tons of surgery, crazy fad diets, and so much more in order to be appealing. The real appeal behind Petit Seven was the fact that it was almost like you were getting your information from the girl down the street – it was a lot more real and much less commercial than the Gyaru magazines that would eventually start popping up after the Kogal boom.
The level of information presented for items displayed in Petit Seven honestly could rival those of an influencer doing an unboxing review of an item. While cluttered with items and text, it still gave out enough information that the reader could make an informed decision prior to purchasing. For Kogals, this was an amazing concept since not only brands came into play, but also the quality and other factors.
Petit Seven also catered to V-Kei fans, especially at the latter half of the 90’s when this was certainly the golden age of V-Kei. Even then, Petit Seven continued to push Kuroyume from the time of his debut, and in the end, Kiyoharu even ended up with his own fashion page, similar to that of a Petitmo.
There were, of course, others featured such as IZAM’s makeup feature, DIR EN GREY’s Kyo’s makeup feature, etc. In that sense, it was good that the V-Kei taste of Petit Seven’s editorial side is fully reflected in the magazine. The fact that not just one audience was targeted really made it a magazine that everyone can enjoy.
It seems almost inevitable that every magazine seems to have some sort of revival or peak, and it always comes down to a boom. In the case of Petit Seven, this magazine was witness to not only the Amura trend, but also the Hamada trend. We already know about the Amura/Amurer trend which was very much the dominant fashion back in 1996 (and if not, head over to my blog post here Gyaru 101: The Kogal Boom talking about this for more information), but what about Hamada?
The Hamada trend comes from Masatoshi Hamada and was characterized by the American Casual fashion: vintage jeans with good color fading, red wing boots, dead stock sneakers, second-hand sweatshirts, MA-1, and sukajans (does it sound familiar to you? 👀 Gyaru History Sidenote I: Teams & Teamers ).
The 90’s in general were a time where new fashions came out almost in turnstile mode, one new fashion after another. Petit Seven was a witness and feature-maker to not just Harajuku fashions but also the start of Gyaru. Solely looking at it from a Gyaru origins perspective, Petit Seven fills in the blanks from before EGG started making its mark; among other magazines. It can be said, respectively, that Petit Seven saw the exact moment that the culture started being created. With the rise of street culture and the popularity of various styles, it is difficult to describe the fashion of the 90s in one word.
That’s why Petit Seven is indispensable when talking about the Heisei period, and it is like a textbook in “Heisei Girls Culture Theory” because it showcases so many trends in a certain amount of time.