Just came across some work that’s somewhat related. Jason Evans did a project in the 90’s where he photographed young black men dressed as ‘country gents’ in carefully chosen suburban settings. Have a look here.

Links to Aoki’s magazines here and an interesting interview with him here. Also an article by Kjeld Duits here

Aperature and Portfolio and one specifically about street fashion
Code

Interesting, related blogs to look at:

Sorta making fun of hipsters: www.hipsterrunoff.com

Excellent pictures of hipsters: here

Another blog about hipsters: here

A nice happy reminder of the 80’s.

Have a look at a Chinese Youth blog here

Another article about fashion in young China. here.

Here is something that I finally came across, in writing, the thoughts that this project is very much related to.The following is from an article in the Herald Tritbune online Japanese and Korean pop idols set trends for Chinese teens.

“Chang also appreciates the vivid colors of Japanese style, which he says are an especially sharp contrast to the drab olive grays and blues of his youth. “In the 1970s and ’80s,” he said, “this was a country of workers and people wore a lot of dull colors.” Today’s teenagers, he feels, are more open to other cultures and have much more information at their disposal, which makes their sense of style more individualized. “Everyone brings his or her own personal style to the overarching concept,” he said”.

The article also quotes someone as saying  “for now, China is mixing ideas and still evolving. Eventually we’ll develop our own style.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Have a read of a Time article about youth in China here but read with a grain of salt remembering that it focuses probably on some of the richest, most educated youth in Beijing who do continue to stand out from the many youth throughout China.

And more here about ‘Chuppies’ – Chinese Yuppies.

Have a look here

I failed to mention this influence on my work for so long. Jamel Shabazz is known for his 80’s New York portraits of hip hop culture. I actually met him in Toronto in March of 2007 and watched a presentation of his where he said something that I will never forget “someone who looks that good just can’t say no to a picture”.

More pictures here

Writing on a blog about him here

His website