Japanese street fashion
certainly wouldn’t be where it was today without fashion’s
various styles throughout the years.
You can see elements of Victorian, new romantic, punk, and goth
clothing. Of course the Japanese have added their own twist to this and created
styles even more original than they were in the first place.
From these individuals in Japan setting out their own styles, “Fruits”
was born. The photographer Shoichi Aoki had been inspired by the huge crowds
of Japan's youth who would gather in Japan's closed off areas of Harajuku every
Sunday to parade in their latest unique and extreme outfits.
He took to the streets and photographed them, starting off by printing them in a zine; a
homemade magazine.
In Japan “Fruits” became a phenomena, showing youths throughout Japan
the many different and unique fashions from Decora; mis-matched clothing and
lots of jewellery, to Ganguro; tans, white make-up, bleached hair and beach wear, to Gothic
lolita; Victorian outfits, frilly dresses, crosses and huge shoes, and many more styles.
Eventually the fruits concept was turned into a book in 2001, selected images were taken
from the zines to become part of this book. It slowly turned in to a cult
book & worldwide people took inspiration from the unique looks within
it, and the creativity that went in to the outfits documented.
Shoichi Aoki wanted to share these images with the world to document a key stage in
Japan’s history. Especially since the area in Harajuku where most of
Japan’s youths would hang out was turned back into a traffic zone, meaning
that the area where they were all documented was slowly becoming smaller and
smaller and they had little elsewhere to go. This also resulted in less extreme
and unique outfits being shown off in Harajuku but Shoichi Aoki still goes
out of his way to find and document the unique outfits in Japan.
Despite this the images do still hugely influence people, and worldwide in recent years
the “Fruits” concept and various styles documented have had a
huge impact on ‘Western’ culture. It’s certainly noticed
more over here in the UK and is a key influence in alternative fashion.
You can find UK clothing companies such as Drac in a box and Phaze
trying to cater for the Gothic lolita look through their own attempts at clothing
for this look. As well as huge online communities for UK Gothic lolita’s
and Cosplayer's.
It has also hit the mainstream worldwide through Gwen Stefani’s own take on fruits, and Harajuku style. From her Gothic lolita, Alice in wonderland inspired outfits in the video for “What you waiting for?” to her own brand “Harajuku
lovers”, creating a more Western looking Fruits outfit.
More recently Shoichi Aoki has released another fruits book, “Fresh fruits”.
Showing even more recent unique and extreme outfits worn on Japan’s
streets, but you can notice the change in direction with more casual outfits being documented,
which is a result of Harajuku’s key area becoming a traffic zone again,
but there is still a vast amount of extreme outfits being worn.
In conclusion “Fruits” and Japanese street fashion have become a
worldwide phenomenon, inspiring thousands to dress more creatively as well
as becoming involved in a style they probably would never have been aware of.
