From Ghanaian coffin-makers, to Dimes Square gossip, to Bolton fashionistas, we spotlight the best DIY publications to know from a new wave of creatives
Last week, Anna Wintour published a profile of Volodymyr and Olena Zelensky as part of Vogue’s first-ever digital cover. In a glossy spread shot by Annie Liebowitz, the First Lady clutches a navy coat at her chest, flanked by three women soldiers while the carcass of an aircraft sinders behind her. Whether that was a distasteful thing to do during a time of war – or a brave time capsule – quickly became the subject of debate. But it’s the kind of image that only Wintour could have produced, chiming with all the highly-produced political portraiture that has defined her tenure at Condé Nast. There’s obviously a place in culture for fashion photography of this kind, much like scrappy underground zines that speak to niche subcultures and arts kids – and it’s this commingling that makes fashion publishing a bountiful ecosystem.
Scratch away the industry’s glossy exterior and a rabble of magazine-makers come to the surface, among them Boy.Brother.Friend, The Drunken Canal, and Viscose Journal, with their deft explorations of black masculinity, razor sharp satire, and high-brow fashion criticisms. But these zines aren’t vying for mass attention – it’s about giving their own people what they want, decorating entire spreads with the kind of off-kilter stories and images which most traditional outlets might just purse their lips at. As the internet shifts from behemoth social platforms to specialist Substacks and Patreons – and readers become more accustomed to ‘choosing a fighter’ – the zine is well-primed for a new age of fashion communication. Of course, many are paid for by the same big-ticket advertisers as traditional outlets, but their expansive nature takes them beyond staid frameworks, making the zine an ideal playground for fledgling creatives – be that a pamphlet, an anthology, or a photo album.
From Ghanaian coffin-makers, to Glam Rock deity, to Bolton fashionistas, we round up 5 zines to stock up on from this new wave of creatives.
THE DRUNKEN CANAL
Founded by Claire Banse and Gutes Guterman, The Drunken Canalis a hyper-local newspaper that panders to the much-memed Dimes Square area of New York. Reporting on local gossip, inside jokes, and club night obituaries, it’s positioned to read as if “the flow of information took a detour, got drunk along the way, and was now attempting to tell you all about it over its third Clandestino’s martini.” Alongside all of that, though, are critical essays, fiction, and reviews – so it’s hard-hitting journalism, actually. Like their Christmas wish list, which consisted of “a contract with Midland Agency”, “free stuff with Praying”, and “for Greta Gerwig to get off her high horse”.
all/WITHIN
Launching later this month, all/WITHIN bills itself as “a space that provides a vehicle for young diverse communities to express themselves and provide an open platform to showcase their creativity”. Within its pages, Donkwear makes an overture to Bolton, and Adam Jones on the great British pub, while fashion collective Margn, which is based in India, talks through its human-centred approach. Blending photography, journalism, and art, the publication stretches across 1970s Leeds to current day Marrakech and Tunis. Issue number one gets its big reveal on August 19 at the RAEBURN space in Hackney, “celebrating marginalised communities and championing true heritage.”
R3DECLITE
Launched in May, R3declite’s partly-anonymous collective spans New York, Los Angeles, London, and beyond, with its debut issue dovetailing with the arrival of an 150-piece upcycled collection dubbed ‘Collage Couture for a Good Cause’ – with proceeds going towards non-profit Hope for the Young. With Paloma Elsesser the first coverstar, the guts of the magazine travel through three distinct chapters: Workshop, which celebrates the spirit of collaboration, Proto, which is all about ‘raw ideas coming real’ and Soirée, which imagines a killer party the team would love to throw. The whole thing is cut and pasted with off-kilter editorials by the likes of Sharna Osborne, Emma Wyman, Thistle Brown, Nell Kalonji, and Rémi Lamandé. It’s a “true salade of ideas”, co-founder Jack Sunnucks told us, twisting fashion’s haughty exterior into naff perfume ads and cocktail recipes. All of that will come to a head when the mag takes over the Queen Adelaide on August 12.
BOY, BROTHER, FRIEND
Boy.Brother.Friend first came to be in 2017 with stylist KK Obi and photographer Medhi Lacoste hungry to celebrate Black men in music, fashion, and art. Now helmed by editorial director Emmanuel Balogun, Boy.Brother.Friend has fleshed into a digital platform and fully fledged print publication. Its first issue was all about destabilising notions of masculinity, sexuality, and race. In the 200-page-plus offering, fashion editorials, poetry, and writing explore how masculine identities metabolise throughout the Black diaspora. And its pages read like a who’s who of Black talent – with Mowalola, Damson Idris, Liz Johnson Artur, Nicholas Daley, Davido, Telfar Clemens, and Dazed’s Ib Kamara all staring out from the magazine’s insides. Boy.Brother.Friend just launched six covers as part of its fourth edition, with features on Cowley shells (a currency once used by enslaved people), Cameroonian fashion spreads, and the subversive coffin-making of Ghanian artist Paa Joe.
VISCOSE JOURNAL
Fashion people like nice pictures and pretty dresses but… can they… actually read? Viscose Journal believes so, producing a magazine ripe in clear-eyed analyses, putting fashion on par with most other areas of the arts world. The idea that fashion is somehow less deserving of deep thinking is – of course – a real misnomer, and Viscose Journal sees itself as “the world’s most exciting journal for fashion criticism”, giving space to “genre-defying thinking that challenges and expands the possibilities of research, practice, and critique in/of fashion.” With stockists in over 15 countries, the publication sets up a direct line to intellectual fashion communities, travelling through specially-edited thematic editions and collaborations with major museums and research institutions. Rejecting advertiser spending, writers can speak plainly on the wrongs and rights of the industry, without fear of any financial repercussions. Two-years in the making, the magazine’s third edition has recently gone to print, setting out to deconstruct the notion of “Asias” through fashion.
GIRLFANS
As football continues to cosy up to fashion – look to Martine Rose, Burberry, and Gucci for evidence of that – GIRLFANS makes a timely entry into the publishing world, aiming to give female football supporters visibility and a sense of belonging in football culture. Chiming with the Lionesses’ rip-roaring Euro’s win last week, the publication documents women followers of the English and Scottish Premier Leagues and the English Football League. Its sister project, GIRLFANS UNTOLD, features the experiences and recollections of older supporters using their own words and photographs from their personal archives.
INCROWD
Men’s fashion publications are so often bland in their outlook – all brown brogues and Hawaiian shirts – but CSM grad George Elliot is reinvigorating the space with glitz, decadence, and sex. With fashion spreads featuring the glam rock fashions of Gregory Assad and Christoph Rumpf, its inaugural issue commemorated 50 years since Roxy Music released their debut album and single, interviewing image-maker Antony Price, who was responsible for Bryan Ferry’s sex symbol status. “Trying to change how the world looks is an addiction for designers,” Christoph Rumpf says in an interview with INCROWD, citing elegance and glamour as the chief principles of shaping a new menswear look. “I want to make people become beautiful spectacles. If we see streetwear every day, why should we not see glamour on the streets as well?,” he said, which could just as easily read as a strapline for INCROWD.