There is energy and creativity in the teenagers who wear a mixture of high fashion and homemade ensembles. On the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo, they create a novel and intriguing record of life.
While the eye is drawn to the colorful and fascinating street fashion, the backgrounds — vending machines and ever-present Gap stores — are constant reminders of the global mass market.
Mr. Aoki's extensive collection of cult images represents a unique documentation of the explosion and changing face of street fashion throughout the last decade.
The streets and suburbs of Tokyo are captured in an innovative light — in celebration of the diversity of Mr. Aoki's sharply depicted youth.
At the same time, the youth depicted by Mr. Aoki leaves the observer wondering what the over-the-top character of the images indicates about the state of present-day Japan.
It is a country with a lot of potential and beauty on the one hand. But, on the other hand, it is also a country with a shaky economy and very stifling routines.