Japanese photographer Rei Shito tells us her mission to document Japan’s street style culture and her experience photographing different fashion weeks
Rei Shito wears many hats. But the one that she’s most known for is her continuous documentation of the street style culture in Japan. It’s something that she’s been doing since 2004, at the height of the popularity of Fruits, a cult fanzine that celebrates the bold, unafraid and ever-evolving fashion and sub-culture specific to Japan and especially Harajuku in Tokyo. The magazine helped piqued the interest of those overseas into Japanese street fashion, with some of its photographers becoming one with Japanese fashion—one of whom is Rei Shito.
The Japanese photographer has become one of the most influential street style photographers and fashion bloggers and even when Fruits ceased publication in 2017 due to the “lack of cool kids to photograph,” Shito still continues on with her work, publishing a book last year to both relive and re-energise the street fashion scene. But besides frequenting the streets of Tokyo, Shito is also a familiar face in fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris—both as a photographer and a fashionable attendee in her own right.
After the conclusion of Tokyo Fashion Week and just as she prepares for Paris Fashion Week, Tatler caught up with the photographer to talk about her experience photographing the biggest fashion shows and the evolving street style culture in Japan.
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How did you get into fashion?
When I went to university, I came to live in Tokyo and started going to Harajuku. At that time, there were many fashionable people in Harajuku so I joined the “Harajuku Fashion Community” and my interest in fashion was awakened. I also learned a lot about fashion from the Tokyo fashion community, as I was working as a model at the same time as my studies. I think those experiences had a big impact on me.
From there, how did you get into photography?
I got into the world of photography by accident when the editor-in-chief of popular Japanese fashion magazines, Fruits, Tune and Street suddenly asked me to take a picture for one of their magazines. At that time, I didn’t have any knowledge of photography, much less any interest in it, but I couldn't imagine turning down an offer from the editor-in-chief, so I accepted the job. I learned a lot about photography by actually doing it.
You’re as fashionable as the people you photograph. How would you describe your own sense of style?
Thank you for saying so. I think my style is a lot of things—Tokyo style, mixture, layered, borderless and going beyond the rules of existing concepts. This is both my own style and Tokyo’s style.
Before you became a photographer, you worked as a model in magazines, TV commercials, music videos and shows. How was the experience like?
I think it was a valuable experience to be able to work with veterans in the fashion and media industries and to actually see and feel how they work.
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