This is a collection of 45 Tokyo street fashion portraits from Japan's premier fanzine. Fruits was established in 1994, by photographer Shoich Aoki, initially as a project to document the growing explosion in street fashion within the suburbs of Tokyo. The magazine has since grown to cult status and is now avidly followed by thousands of Japanese teenagers who also use the magazine as an opportunity to check out the latest styles and trends. The average age of the kids featured in the magazine is between 12 and 18 years and the clothes they wear are a mixture of high fashion - Vivienne Westwood is a keen favourite - and home-made ensembles which, when combined, create a novel, if not hysterical, effect.

Tyson Writesel

carrie

FRUiTS

This is a collection of street snaps from the heydays of Harajuku fashion. Preserved, according to the foreword, not only to show off the creativity that was out in the streets back in the days but also as a reminder to fashion-forward youth not to forget this was a thing that happened and a rallying cry not to succumb to casual fashion that's popular nowadays. Sorry Shoichi Aoki!   I also have the Gothic & Lolita version of this and tbh both of them are old so ... I'm not sure how to really put it? So let's do that as bluntly as possible. In bullets.  - FRUiTS aged better than G&L. I hate saying that because Capitalism and consumer culture is what happened to Gothic & Lolita fashion and the things people think are 'ita' now are the cheap or handmade items that helped establish the subculture in the first place so thanks a lot for that. Anyway, there's a lot of 'ita' or inelegant, ugly fashion in the Gothic & Lolita book because the fashion has moved on to pricey branded items that get sold out the first day. On the other hand, street fashion in general (not counting the Lolita and hime branches) chugs along merrily without really looking at trends, so the fashion in FRUiTS is actually still very fresh and fashionable?   - There's also quite a number of DIY and thrifting happening, with people customising their clothing (again not something you see that much in the G&L or hime side?) to make them one of a kind items, and I feel there's so much more street cred there. Why did we become so enamored with brand names?   - I got a book that was published more recently ,   Tokyo Street Style  and that features more casual fashion that costs you an arm and a leg, with select shops that tend to favour minimalism. And again, sorry Shoichi Aoki! :"D  All that said, I'm not the biggest fan of the book's coloured text on busy backgrounds. Yes, the photos are more important than the text, but can't you do it in white font at least? There are a couple descriptions I just couldn't read at all.

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