Remembering FRUiTS magazine
Showcasing funky hair, wide grins, and mismatching socks, FRUiTS magazine used to be the hub for the forever-evolving shape of fashion.
Capturing the fluidity of all the Harajuku fashion subgenres, FRUiTS magazine used to be a monthly published collection of photographs of the best outfits found in the center of Tokyo.
Shoichi Aoki founded FRUiTS in 1997. Originally a photographer, Aoki noticed the range of Tokyo fashion during the 90s and began taking pictures of the most vivid and innovative outfits. He found interest in the individuality of the youth that would frequent the Harajuku district, who would not only sport brands like DC Shoes, Comme des Garçons, Vivienne Westwood, and Hysteric Glamour, but also DIY pieces, like tie-dye and crocheted items, and traditional Japanese clothing, like kimonos and geta [wooden footwear].
This kind of trend-less, mixed, and personal fashion was representative of Harajuku fashion from the 1990s to the late 2000s. Notably, Decora, gangurou, and punk styles were the common faces in the most populated streets. Hence, Aoki chose FRUiTS as the name, a stylized version of the word “fruits”, because he thought the vividness and the freshness of this novel take on fashion reminded him of strawberries, oranges, and other cute fruits.
Throughout the magazine’s run, fans of fashion and young Tokyoites would try to get photographed by Aoki and his staff members, just to get a chance to make it on the next edition of FRUiTS.
This magazine would showcase pictures of Tokyo fashionistas, each photo covering a page with a small informative text box, occasionally adding advertisements for local brands in between pages.
In 2017, Aoki announced the end of the magazine, claiming that “there are no more cool kids to photograph”. The blame is on the rise of fast fashion imported from the West and fashion icons being able to rank up faster in the worldwide circle of social media, without the help of Harajuku streets.
However, with the new wave of Harajuku fashion, thanks to designers like Abloh and Gvasalia, Aoki has stated that he is considering a revival of FRUiTS, or something similar.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
