Harajuku in Los Angeles – Beyond the Fashion Walk (2020-ongoing)

Time changes things. After many years and many friendships later, Harajuku in Los Angeles looks beyond the pose and fashion walk. 

Driven by my passion for Los Angeles and its communities, I began photographing alternative fashion dressers inspired by Harajuku. This street style originated in Harajuku, Japan, and focuses on community and freedom of expression.

Moving away from a typological tradition, Beyond the Fashion Walk is my photographic narrative of what it means to be Harajuku in Los Angeles. It is exceedingly collaborative and provides a duo platform for creative expression. This series depicts Harajuku-inspired individuals at home, at work, in natural settings, in the urban environment, and more, chronicling daily life over several years. In Beyond the Fashion Walk, individuals are in their environment, giving them space to reveal.   

Harajuku in Los Angeles is a multi-series that embraces portraiture and celebrates Harajuku fashion-inspired individuals in Los Angeles. Beyond the Fashion Walk marks the culmination of this three-part photographic portrait project.

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Series Background: For the multi-series, I have photographed 70-plus Los Angeles' Harajuku community members and interviewed numerous individuals. In the spirit of FRUiTS Magazine, the legendary Japanese street style digest associated with the fashion youth in Tokyo's Harajuku district, the Harajuku in Los Angeles will have several iterations, including print editions, a broadsheet, and a zine called CiTrUs Magazine. The CiTrUs zines include images and quotes from community members.

Thank you to the Los Angeles’ Harajuku community and Harajuku Day for their support.