Gauze is a thin, translucent fabric with a open weave. In technical terms "gauze" is a weave structure in which the weft yarns are arranged in pairs and are crossed before and after each warp yarn keeping the weft firmly in place. This weave structure is used to add stability to fabric, which is important when using fine yarns loosely spaced. However, this weave structure can be used with any weight of yarn, and can be seen in some rustic textiles made from coarse hand-spun plant fiber yarns.

Gauze is the first studio album released by Dir En Grey on July 28, 1999. It is the band's first full-length record. Five tracks were produced by X Japan co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi, all of which had been previously released as singles. The album was originally released on July 28, 1999 as a standard version with a thick CD case, 36-page booklet with the CD reading surface painted red, through East West Japan. An initial limited version was released on the same day, including a translucent red sleeve with a cloud pattern, 12-page picture booklet, a 36-page lyrics booklet, and the red painted CD in a maxi-CD single case for a sticker price of ¥3,059. The album was later re-issued as standard version only, with a silver disc on October 31, 2001 through Free-Will. Although live performances of songs from this album have been extremely rare since 2003, the album still contains some of the band's most popular songs like Cage and Yokan.