Evol

FRUiTS!!!



STREET/FRUiTS/TUNE
Fruits (magazine) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since I'm too afraid to start a Project Runway thread for fear of being attacked by teenage boys who haven't figured out if they're secure in their masculinity yet, I'm posting this thread to satisfy my inner fashion bug :P

It all started a year or so ago when I was in Manhattan somewhere around Rockefellar center in Kinokuniya. Yes the overwhelmingly overpriced mega japaneasy bookstore. Sadly I like this place, I even went to the one in the Palisades, possibly one of the most annoying mega malls in the US. Anyway... I was perusing mags when I found TUNE. My first thought was "why is there a magazine filled with japanese hobos posing randomly on the street?" sitting next to this quirky mag was something called FRUiTS o_O; and I thought "the hobos have girlfriends?!" wrong again. They were magazines representing that lovely strange little part of Tokyo called Harajuku.

You know... that place where Gwen Stefani stole her entourage from...
Harajuku

Long story short I love FRUiTS. I even bought the Fruits and Fresh Fruits compilation books :P I love the gritty eclectic snapshot of street fashion around Harajuku station through the eyes of photographer Shoichi Aoki. The fashions range from tame and ordinary to bizarre and painful to the eye. I'm sure its no representation of high fashion in Japan but it definitely gives an interesting glimpse of the culture and state of mind of this niche area and the people who flock there....usually on Sundays? TUNE is chock full of guys ranging from cute to (like I mentioned before) hobo. I'm thinking STREET is shot in different cities around the world but who wants to see white people in interesting clothes right?

I could say that I'm using the books/mags as a reference for my drawings which to some extent is true but they're actually just fun to flip through.

FRUITS Books:
Amazon.com: Fruits: Books: Shoichi Aoki

Amazon.com: Fresh Fruits: Books: Shoichi Aoki

Thoughts?

This can't be as "high brow" as my failed anime and manga threads -_-;;

Sei-chan

I think it's...interesting to flip through XD. The photobook itself is horribly expensive, and I'm not too much of a fashion manic to spend my money on it.
But everytime I'm at the bookstore I'd look through the book to kill time and amuse myself.
I've never walked through the streets of Japan so I can't compare these people's fashion to anything.
I do want to say that some of the outfits are pretty wacky and out there, and I dislike 40+ year old women donning "cutesy" clothes; it looks sick.

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_gwenibe_

Thanks for sharing. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one interested in this sort of stuff. Harajuku is on my must see list now. Some of them are pretty funky and great to get a bit of inspiration. I tend to look at these when I need inspiration in designing a character.

and it is a bit expensive, I just looked into getting a subscription and it's a bit much where I am. But I might just stick to Amazon and buy one or two.

A bit off the way, but if your into street fashion, I also found these sites if your interested.

This one is from Finland http

and another Japanese one

stumble open is a great tool XD. So far I tend to think Japanese Street fashion is a bit more.. interesting?

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Evol

hey thanks for the links. glad you're interested in the mag. I'm currently on a hunt for interesting fashion publications, lets hope theres more kwirky eye candy for me.

Hassun

Fruits... Interesting title. ¬_¬

When I visited Harajuku there was a surprising lack of freakily dressed people. I think I went on a wrong day or something.

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tsurara

Everyone missed the boat on Harajuku by about 5 years. It's gotten pretty vanilla compared to the late 90s very-early 00s. Harajuku's original "people" were the Visual rock fans... and Visual rock more or less died out 5 or 6 years after it got big. There's still a small indie following, but it's all lolita/indies and it's spread to the big department stores while having quite a lot of subculture geek-sex with akibakei/otome culture. Harajuku has more Johnny's Jimusho merchandise than it does Visual Kei gear now and way more annoying white tourists LOOKING for people dressed up than people actually wearing anything remotely cool.

There's still a lot of cool street fashion... but it's not an issue of going to a neighborhood so much as it is going to a specific concert, shopping area, club or just getting lucky and running into some "freaks".

I dated a "fruit" in 2001... and BOY was he something. His idea of a date was to take me shopping for clothes FOR HIM. I spent most of the time carrying his purchases.

His still the only person I've ever met who managed to wear 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts at once... every day >_<;

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Arukih

wo!! I have 3 books and post cards from Fruits, my exboyfriend is a photographer and gave me as present in my bday!! i lov it coz i have a sense of fashion like them O_o its kind weird but all my friends are use to see me dress like that, coz most of my clothes are hands made altought very expensive here in Europe, when i saw the 1st book at first time i was like; well im not alone he he he!

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Evol

smexy .....how fashion conscious ARE average japanese guys? besides 3 pants guy. lets say twenty somethings specifically.