FRUiTS Photography by Shoichi Aoki

FRUiTS is a Japanese magazine which documents trends of new and emerging Japanese street fashion, concentrated in particular in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Aoki began taking Japanese fashion photography in the early 1990s and focuses on trends being initiated by the wearer not by the designer through customisation and innovative mixing of traditional codes and signifiers.

Aoki's work is very unique as unlike other fashion photography, professional models, studios and studio lighting are not used, instead young people are picked and photographed on the street; the main stage for the showcasing of such fashion.

I find these photographs in particular inspirational as the fashion styles are quite radical, fresh and colourful. The subjects of the photographs are positioned in the centre and are able to pose in whatever way they want, this emphasises the fun, spontaneous theme the magazine wishes to achieve. A wide shot is used in all the photographs by Aoki to show full bodies and therefore the full outfits the people are showcasing. Wide shots are also used to place the central subjects in relation to their surroundings. This includes the hustle and bustle of everyday city life and the use of conventionally dressed people in the background along with the grey, gritty blandness of the buldings, frames the main subjects making them stand out. The surroundings, some containing such things as street signs and billboards, make the site of the shoot known, Tokyo, a very distinct city with its clashes of traditional Japanese and westernised architecture and design. The photographs therefore promote the city and the main subjects of the photos as tourist attractions.

What is also interesting about these photographs is that their names, ages, inspirations and where they got their clothes is displayed which personalises the photographs adding interest and adds to the theme of identity and uniqueness running throughout the magazine.