Shoichi Aoki, untitled. Courtesy of the artist
Fruits featured 75 images of Tokyo’s most imaginatively dressed youth, snapped by Japanese photographer, editor and publisher, Shoichi Aoki, founder of Tokyo street magazines STREET and FRUiTS.
Shoichi Aoki began documenting street fashion in Tokyo’s fashionable Harajuku area in the mid-1990s when he noticed a marked change in the way young people were dressing.
Rather than following European and American trends, people were customising elements of traditional Japanese dress – kimono, obi sashes and geta sandals – and combining them with handmade, second hand and alternative designer fashion in an innovative DIY approach to dressing. According to Shoichi Aoki, the fashion featured in FRUiTS is “more about the art of ‘putting things on’ than the art of making clothes”.
Presented in partnership with The Powerhouse Sydney.