Another member of the group says that she does not like her white skin and covers up if she is unable to get a spray tan.
An underground youth culture in Japan which makes a rebelliousfashion statement against traditional rules on eastern beauty, istaking hold on Britain’s youth.
Manba involves devoteeswearing dark tans, white make-up around their eyes and hair that isoften a combination of neon colours.
British teenagers like18-year-olds Eilish and Declan got caught up in manba after an interestin Japanese culture led them to start researching on the internet,where they came across the style.
Manba in Japan is also known as ganguro, gonguro, yamamba and mamba.
Yama-uba in Japanese is the name of a mountain hag in Japanese folklore whom the fashion is thought to resemble.
It has been around for nearly a decade and is an eye-catching statement against conformity.
When the practitioners began darkening their skin, widening theireyes and wearing blue contact lenses, they were making a rebelliousstatement against the traditions of fair-skinned beauty.
The rebellion has now, perhaps somewhat ironically, been taken up by Britain’s naturally fair-skinned youth.
I went to spend some time with Eilish and Declan to find out why the fashion appeals them to.
Glitter
WhenI met them early one morning, they had already started applying theirmake-up as they planned to meet other British members of their Japanesecircle later that afternoon in London’s China Town.