- CollegeLondon College of Fashion
- CourseMA Fashion Cultures and Histories
- Graduation year2025
This paper aims to explore the influence of FRUiTS magazine on Chinese youth culture and identity construction within a postmodern context. In the first chapter, the study applies Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) and semiotic theory to deconstruct the subversive and structural nature of FRUiTS as a traditional medium, and outlines the subcultural network built around it. In the second and third chapters, the paper focuses on the contemporary Chinese context, using Digital Discourse Analysis (DDA) and interviews to examine the cultural behaviors of Chinese youth in both macro-social and micro-practical terms. The research finds that, unlike the Japanese youth of the 1990s who sought alternative lifestyles and complex, layered outfits through FRUiTS, a "light" subcultural style—one that both resists platform and commercial co-optation and responds to economic downturns—is emerging as a compromise choice among Chinese youth in the post-pandemic era.
Keywords: FRUiTS magazine; alternative lifestyle; identity construction; "light" style; homogenization
Final work
Photograph of two youth in Harajuku’, FRUiTS, No. 1
A typical case is a photograph from the inaugural issue of FRUiTS. The male on the left side of the frame wears a white shirt and patchwork capri pants, with black socks and black leather shoes wrapped in laces. He disrupts traditional masculinity with a woman's bow tie and brightly colored hair. The female on the right layers a frilled-collar blouse and a plain black vest over a neon pink skirt and rhinoceros-horn-tipped shoes. Her pinkish-purple hair is styled high, creating a tension that juxtaposes an academic aesthetic with a rebellious feel. The primary colors of both outfits—black, white, and pink—clearly demonstrate a deliberate coordination of color.
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