Zine culture is very much alive, with many artists and writers turning to the small press to spread their work and grow a community. “Self-publishing gives the greatest freedom to artists and writers. With self-publishing, you’re given full control and the hands-on experience of accomplishing your own projects makes you more in touch with your craft. Not getting exploited by big publishers is just an added bonus,” said Mac Andre Arboleda in a Scoutmag.ph feature on the local community.
FAKE zine, a print zine that “celebrates local independent subcultures,” is launching their first issue entitled “Issue 00: Gangs of Manila” with a month-long celebration starting May 30 to Jun. 27. Part of this celebration are one-of-one upcycled ready-to-wear capsule collections in collaboration with designers JP Velasco (02-24 by JEYPEH*), Antonina Amoncio (Antonina), Bea Guerrero (b.jpeg) and JJ Aquino (VILQUIN). There are four collections in all: Aquino’s Tambay, Amoncio’s Tagpi-tagpi, Guerrero’s Emerald Street and Velasco’s Dirty Laundry.
“As a supporter of local subcultures and creatives, FAKE zine’s goal in this upcycling project is to make high-end or custom fashion more accessible to a wider crowd, as well as to spark the conversation on waste caused by the fashion industry. Being responsible for 10% of the humanities’ carbon emissions, 85% of textiles are thrown into the landfills each year due to constantly changing trends. In response to that, this collaboration merges the refusal of fast fashion, with slow fashion techniques, creating a standard that is apt for the “new normal” in this COVID-19 pandemic,” writes a press release on the collections.
Each collection has its own unique spin on upcycling. Aquino’s, for example, “is a line of FAKE totes, loose pants, dresses, and oversized shirts and sweatshirts inspired by the early ‘70s Filipino family TV series from his childhood “John en Marsha” starring Dolphy and Nida Blanca” to “re-invision traditional Filipino streetwear fashion” while Guerrero’s collection is inspired by “inspired by children’s coloring books.”
They will be released on different days: Tambay on Jun. 1, Tagpi-tagpi on Jun. 2, Emerald Street on Jun. 3 and Dirty Laundry on Jun. 4.
Aside from the capsule collections, each copy of the zine will come with a free face mask from either VILQUIN, ANTONINA, or b.jpeg. “The 40-paged zine comes in 4 covers, and printed in 3 ways: black and white (P250), colored (P450) and magazine type (P650).” Proceeds from the zine “will be donated to U.P. Medical Foundation to help fund the creation of locally made COVID-19 test kits, which are 6x cheaper than test kits made overseas.”
There are other events lined up for their month-long celebration. You can check out the list here.
Featured photo by Makie Cruz courtesy of FAKE zine
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