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Fruits

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Fruits

Fruits (stylized as FRUiTS) is a Japanese street fashion magazine founded in 1997 by photographer Shoichi Aoki. It was conceived to document the vibrant youth styles emerging in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, focusing on offbeat and eclectic outfits that fell outside mainstream fashion (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). Published monthly, Fruits became synonymous with Harajuku’s creative subcultures and served as a colorful record of late-1990s and 2000s street trends.

Origins and Background

Shoichi Aoki launched Fruits in June 1997 at the height of Harajuku’s street style explosion. Aoki had been active as a street photographer for years – he previously founded Street magazine in 1985 to showcase punk and casual fashions in London and Paris (The evolution of 90s Tokyo street style according to Shoichi Aok - TOKION). By the mid-1990s, he witnessed a new wave of fashion creativity among Tokyo’s teenagers and saw an opportunity to chronicle it. Fruits was created to celebrate these “joyous and eclectic” looks of Harajuku and give young trendsetters a platform (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). Aoki was fascinated by the individuality of local youth who mixed high-fashion labels with DIY creations and even traditional clothing, forging a style uniquely their own. From the start, Aoki’s editorial vision was to treat Harajuku’s street fashion with the respect usually reserved for haute couture. Fruits became, in effect, a real-time chronicle of Harajuku’s bustling youth culture (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means). Rather than impose trends, the magazine simply documented what ordinary style-conscious kids wore on the street, elevating their personal expression to magazine pages. This authentic, ground-level approach made Fruits an ambassador of Harajuku style to the world (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means), validating street fashion as an important cultural movement. Aoki’s intent was to “challenge the mainstream fashion magazines” of the time by focusing on real individuals and spontaneous creativity (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated), reflecting a grassroots energy that foreshadowed the social-media era of fashion self-expression.

Editorial Focus and Publishing History

Fruits primarily showcased candid street portraits of teenagers and young adults in Harajuku, captured at the very moment of everyday life. Each issue’s content was simple yet striking: full-page photos of individuals in head-to-toe looks, accompanied by a brief caption or profile. The captions typically listed the subject’s age, occupation (often “student” or creative jobs), the brands or sources of their clothing, and their self-described “point of fashion” – a short note on the inspiration or highlight of their outfit (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). This straightforward format put the emphasis squarely on the fashion itself. The magazine carried very little advertising (usually only a couple of ads for local Harajuku shops), which meant nearly every page was devoted to Aoki’s vibrant photographs (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). By minimizing editorial text and commercial content, Fruits presented an unfiltered view of street style: readers could flip through page after page of boldly dressed Tokyo youths, each with a unique personal aesthetic. The styles covered in Fruits were diverse and ever-changing, reflecting Harajuku’s role as a melting pot of subcultures. The magazine became a showcase for everything from the elaborate, doll-like Lolita fashions and other hyper-feminine styles (like Dolly Kei) to the flamboyant Decora trend known for piling on toys and accessories (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). It also featured the edgy looks of ganguro/gyaru (the tanned “gal” subculture) and local interpretations of punk and gothic styles, as well as the casual mix-and-match streetwear of Ura-Harajuku (the “backstreet” scene) (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia) (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). Fruits did not dictate these trends but rather documented them in real time, issue by issue. Notable issues of the magazine often highlighted new fads or creative themes spotted on the streets – for example, an influx of vintage 1970s pieces in one season, or a craze for DIY-customized school uniforms in another. Over the years, readers could observe the evolution of Harajuku fashion through Fruits’ pages, from the late ’90s “anything-goes” experimentation to the refined mix-and-match aesthetics of the mid-2000s. Despite focusing on a specific Tokyo neighborhood, Fruits was part of a broader ecosystem of street fashion magazines. Aoki’s earlier publication Street (founded 1985) provided a global context, covering street styles in Western capitals (The evolution of 90s Tokyo street style according to Shoichi Aok - TOKION). Fruits differed by zooming in on Tokyo’s homegrown trends and youth subcultures. In turn, the success of Fruits spawned a male-focused spin-off magazine called Tune in 2004. As Harajuku’s boys developed their own bold styles, Aoki began Tune to document men’s street fashion in the area (How to access every issue of Japanese men’s street style mag TUNE). Tune ran from 2004 to 2015 and captured the creative menswear looks of Harajuku, complementing Fruits’ emphasis on women and unisex styles. All three magazines – Street, Fruits, and Tune – were produced under Aoki’s eye and often shared a similar street-photography approach. Together, they built a comprehensive archive of contemporary street fashion, linking Tokyo’s scene with worldwide trends. Within Fruits itself, Aoki occasionally published special edition issues featuring extended profiles of Harajuku’s style personalities or reader-submitted artwork, but the core content remained the candid “street snap” photos that defined the magazine’s identity (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia).

Cultural Impact and Influence

During its two-decade run, Fruits had an outsized impact on fashion culture, both in Japan and internationally. In Japan, the magazine became a beloved chronicle for the Harajuku community – many of the teens it featured were regulars on the district’s pedestrian boulevards, and appearing in Fruits was a badge of honor in the street fashion scene. Some individuals who appeared repeatedly in its pages attained a degree of fame within Harajuku circles, and the magazine’s special issues occasionally profiled these familiar style figures in depth (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). More broadly, Fruits helped preserve a record of Japan’s ephemeral style tribes. As trends like Decora, Lolita, Gyaru, and others rose and fell, the magazine’s archives captured their aesthetics for posterity. It treated these subcultures with respect and enthusiasm, which in turn reinforced their legitimacy. Many Japanese readers cherished Fruits for giving them representation and inspiration outside the conservative norms of mainstream fashion magazines. Internationally, Fruits is often credited with shaping Western perceptions of Harajuku and Japanese street fashion. The magazine’s images began circulating abroad in the late 1990s, just as global interest in Tokyo’s youth culture was growing. Aoki’s prior experience with Street magazine helped Fruits gain overseas distribution – it was stocked by stores like Tower Records and independent bookshops, meaning Western fashion enthusiasts could get their hands on it (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). In 2001, the London-based art publisher Phaidon Press released the book Fruits, a compilation of Aoki’s best photographs from the magazine’s early years. This was followed by Fresh Fruits in 2005. These glossy photobooks introduced the riotous colors of Harajuku style to a worldwide audience. As a result, Fruits effectively became a handbook of Japanese street fashion for many outside Japan (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). By the mid-2000s, the magazine’s influence was visible in Western alternative fashion and even high fashion; designers, artists and musicians were drawing inspiration from the layered, imaginative looks seen in Fruits (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated). The term “Harajuku style” itself entered the global lexicon partly through Fruits. In Western media, the idea of Harajuku fashion came to evoke the kinds of colorful, genre-blending outfits that Aoki’s photos captured on the streets of Tokyo ( Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls - Sociological Images). Fashion communities in the West eagerly followed Fruits for the latest wild combinations and subcultural trends. Some of Fruits’ images – neon-haired teens in layered skirts and platform boots, or groups of friends in elaborately accessorized ensembles – became iconic representations of Japanese youth culture. These photos were widely shared and reprinted, to the point that they became synonymous with Japanese street fashion in the minds of many observers abroad (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). Elements of Harajuku street style filtered into Western pop culture as well. Notably, American pop star Gwen Stefani’s mid-2000s “Harajuku Girls” phase (including a song and entourage inspired by Harajuku) was directly influenced by the styles popularized in Fruits and the broader Tokyo street scene (Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls - Sociological Images - The Society Pages) ( Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls - Sociological Images). While some Western interpretations misunderstood or commercialized the nuances of Harajuku fashion, Fruits remained a genuine reference point – a primary source that creatives could turn to for unfiltered inspiration from Tokyo’s sidewalks.

Closure and Relaunch

After nearly 20 years of publication, Fruits eventually fell victim to the changes in the culture it had documented. In February 2017, Shoichi Aoki announced that Fruits would cease its monthly print run effective immediately, citing a simple but significant reason: “there are no more cool kids to photograph.” (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia) By this time, Harajuku’s once-cutting-edge street style had mellowed compared to its 1990s heyday, with fewer extreme looks on display. Aoki noted that the pool of fresh fashion innovators on the streets had diminished, making it hard to find the same level of eye-catching originality that had filled the magazine’s pages in previous years. The final issue published was issue #233 (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia), marking the end of an era. Fruits’ closure was met with sadness from fans and the fashion community, who regarded the magazine as an irreplaceable archive of a unique moment in fashion history. The shutdown also symbolized a broader shift: by 2017, much of the energy of street fashion had migrated to online platforms, and the Harajuku scene itself had evolved under the influence of fast fashion and social media. In the years following its closure, Fruits underwent a digital rebirth. The magazine’s legacy did not fade – instead, it found new life on the internet and in archival projects. In 2018, a British enthusiast, Christopher Tordoff, launched an Instagram account (@fruits_magazine_archives) that systematically shared scans of classic Fruits photographs (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means). The account quickly gained a large following, reigniting interest in Harajuku’s golden age of street style. Shoichi Aoki himself took notice and began contributing to this effort, effectively curating his work for a new generation of online viewers (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means). The unexpected popularity of Fruits on Instagram demonstrated that there was still a global appetite for these images and the cultural movement they represented. By 2022, spurred by the resurgence of interest, Aoki moved to officially revive Fruits in a modern format. Rather than return to print, the magazine transitioned to a digital publication. The original plan focused on making the vast Fruits archive accessible to a worldwide audience in English. In May 2023, Aoki released the first issue of Fruits (the June 1997 debut issue) as an English-language e-book edition, available through the magazine’s website (‘FRUiTS,’ the Legendary Japanese Street Style Magazine, Is Back | Vogue). “Our goal is to make this valuable archive accessible to anyone around the world. The English edition is the first step towards that goal,” Aoki explained of the relaunch (‘FRUiTS,’ the Legendary Japanese Street Style Magazine, Is Back | Vogue). Subsequent issues are slated to be translated and published digitally, effectively reissuing the entire run of Fruits for posterity. The relaunched Fruits also has a new online presence – Aoki now regularly shares current Tokyo street style snapshots via Fruits’ official social media, bringing the same documentary spirit to platforms like Instagram (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means). While the format has changed, the core mission remains: Fruits continues to spotlight the creativity of Harajuku and beyond, now bridging the gap between its 1990s origins and the present day. An exhibit celebrating Fruits was even held in Harajuku’s Laforet museum in 2024, indicating that the magazine’s influence is very much alive in contemporary fashion discourse (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia).

Over the years, Fruits gave rise to several spin-offs and related media that expanded on its celebration of street style. Shoichi Aoki’s publishing ventures actually began before Fruits – he started Street magazine in 1985, which pioneered the street snap format by featuring ordinary people’s fashion in cities like Tokyo, London, and Paris (The evolution of 90s Tokyo street style according to Shoichi Aok - TOKION). Street magazine established Aoki’s reputation as a street fashion documentarian and set the stage for Fruits. While Street cast a wide net on global trends, Fruits narrowed the focus to Harajuku. Later, as Fruits grew in popularity, Aoki introduced a sister publication called Tune in 2004. Tune was essentially a men’s edition of Fruits, born from the observation that Harajuku’s young men were developing their own distinct styles. It ran until 2015 and compiled 128 issues of bold menswear looks from Harajuku’s streets (How to access every issue of Japanese men’s street style mag TUNE). Together, Street, Fruits, and Tune formed a trio of influential magazines that documented street fashion across different demographics and locales. It was not unusual for a trend spotted in Fruits to later appear in Tune tailored to menswear, or for Street to show how a similar subculture was manifesting in London or New York, underscoring the dialogue between Japanese street fashion and the wider world. In addition to periodicals, Fruits extended its reach through books, exhibitions, and other media. The two anthology books published by Phaidon Press – Fruits (2001) and Fresh Fruits (2005) – are among the most notable spin-offs. These coffee-table books collected hundreds of Aoki’s best photographs, allowing fans and fashion researchers globally to enjoy Harajuku street style in a curated format (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). The books were well-received and are often cited as a key resource that brought Japanese street fashion to Western audiences in the early 2000s. Exhibitions of Fruits photography have also been organized around the world. In 2006, for example, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney developed a traveling exhibition titled “Fruits: Tokyo Street Style,” which displayed Aoki’s photos in museums across Australia and New Zealand (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). Such exhibitions introduced museum-goers to the creativity of Harajuku and reinforced the artistic value of Aoki’s documentary photography. Over time, images from Fruits have appeared in countless fashion blogs, documentaries, and retrospectives about Japanese pop culture. The magazine’s distinctive logo and some of its most famous photographs have even been featured in fashion exhibitions and magazine retrospectives as emblematic of Tokyo’s street style revolution. In recent years, Aoki has capitalized on nostalgia for Fruits by releasing digital archives (scans of old issues) and limited-edition goods through an official Fruits online shop, ensuring that new generations can continue to discover the looks that defined an era. Through these spin-offs and projects, Fruits has transcended its original format – it lives on as a cultural icon, encapsulating the spirit of Harajuku fashion and inspiring people far beyond the pages of a magazine.

References

  1. Shoichi Aoki (1997) – Fruits magazine launch and concept. Fruits was founded in 1997 by photographer Shoichi Aoki to document the street fashion of Tokyo’s Harajuku district (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). (Wikipedia)
  2. Something Curated (2020) – How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into the World’s Consciousness. Describes Aoki’s founding of Fruits in 1997 to capture Tokyo’s “joyous and eclectic” street fashions, and notes his prior experience launching Street magazine in 1985, which helped Fruits gain international distribution through outlets like Tower Records (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated).
  3. Nagahata, Hiroaki – Tokion (2021) – The evolution of 90s Tokyo street style… (Interview with Shoichi Aoki). Confirms that in 1985 Shoichi Aoki began publishing Street magazine, featuring street style in London and Paris (The evolution of 90s Tokyo street style according to Shoichi Aok - TOKION). This provided context for his later focus on Harajuku with Fruits in 1997.
  4. Salamone, Lorenzo – NSS Magazine (2024) – The origins of Harajuku street style: interview with Shoichi Aoki. Highlights how Fruits served as “a real chronicle of the life of a young and dynamic neighborhood,” elevating Harajuku’s local culture to the level of high fashion (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means).
  5. Something Curated (2020) – Editorial style of Fruits. Explains that Fruits celebrated diverse subcultures – from Dolly Kei and Lolita to Gyaru (ganguro) and Decora – and published very few ads, with each full-page photo accompanied by a caption detailing the outfit’s sources and inspiration (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated).
  6. White, Ryan – i-D (2021) – How to access every issue of… TUNE. Describes Tune magazine as an offshoot focusing on men’s street fashion in Harajuku between 2004 and 2015, created because “for about 10 years, boys’ fashion in Harajuku was very creative,” leading Aoki to document that scene (How to access every issue of Japanese men’s street style mag TUNE).
  7. Fruits (magazine) – Wikipedia – Content and legacy. Notes that Fruits primarily featured full-page street portraits with brief profiles (including age, occupation, brands, and “point of fashion”), and that occasional special issues profiled frequently photographed individuals or included reader art (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia). Also states that after 20 years and 233 issues, Aoki ended the magazine in 2017 citing “no more cool kids to photograph” (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia), and that Fruits helped spur Western interest in Japanese street fashion (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia).
  8. MacNeill, Kyle – The Face (2022) – FRUiTS: a look-back at the greatest Japanese street style hits. Reports Aoki’s February 2017 closure of Fruits with the quote “There are no more cool kids to photograph,” ending the magazine after two decades (FRUiTS: a look-back at the greatest Japanese street style… - The Face).
  9. Garcia-Furtado, Laia – Vogue (2023) – “FRUiTS… Is Back”. Covers the revival of Fruits as a digital publication. In 2023 the first issue was released in English as an e-book, with Aoki stating the goal is to make the archive accessible worldwide (‘FRUiTS,’ the Legendary Japanese Street Style Magazine, Is Back | Vogue).
  10. NSS Magazine (2024) – Revival via social media. Describes how an English fan’s Instagram account sharing Fruits archives gained popularity and that Aoki himself began contributing, leading up to the magazine’s digital revival and Aoki posting new Tokyo street style on Fruits’ official Instagram (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means) (Harajuku Style: how it was born and what it means).
  11. Something Curated (2020) – Global influence. Emphasizes that Fruits quickly became a reference point for designers, artists, and musicians worldwide, and that Phaidon’s photo books and international gallery exhibitions boosted global awareness of Harajuku fashion and Fruits magazine (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated) (How FRUiTS Magazine Embedded Harajuku Fashion Into The World’s Consciousness - Something Curated).
  12. Wikipedia – Fruits (magazine) – Photobooks and exhibitions. Records that selections of Fruits photos were published in the books Fruits (2001) and Fresh Fruits (2005) by Phaidon, and that an exhibition of Aoki’s Fruits photographs (organized by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney) toured museums in Australia and New Zealand (Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia).
  13. Sociological Images – The Society Pages (2008) – “Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls” (user comment by Kim). Observes that Western usage of the term “Harajuku style” generally refers to the decora and related fashions featured in Fruits (especially via the Phaidon photo books), highlighting Fruits’ role in defining Harajuku fashion abroad ( Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls - Sociological Images).