In Conversation with Ione Gamble: Refusing to Dishonour ‘Unintellectual’ Taste
Words by Tanya Fevzi
Leopard print, velvet clothing, fake fur, big hoops, and hot pink are among aesthetics often deemed cheap, garish and kitsch. Tied to the working class, the queer, and the feminine, these looks are dismissed in political and cultural landscapes because they are supposedly lowbrow and unintellectual tastes. They are trashy.
In a patriarchal world, marginalised groups, especially women, are taught to feel shame for interests that are feminine and loud. Makeup, fashion, or anything pink cannot, in the eyes of hegemonic norms, be serious or valuable, nor worth pursuing. Surviving this culture that devalues the feminine leads many young women to reject what is ‘girly’ in a bid to avoid scrutiny and embarrassment. This demonisation of the femme is oppressive, unfair, and ridiculous.
To dismiss ‘femme’ interests is to overlook the deep-rooted identity, resistance, and creativity they represent. Since 2014, Polyester Zine has refused to be ashamed of its loud, camp, and pink aesthetic. Instead, it takes what has been marked ‘trashy’ and reclaims it, rejecting sought acceptance from the mainstream. It is a publication whose bold visuals and feminine storytelling have made waves in the elitist worlds of journalism and publishing, where pink just doesn’t cut it.
In conversation with Ione Gamble, Founding Editor-in-Chief of the self-published, intersectional feminist arts and culture digital and print magazine, we explored what it means to celebrate the things we are told to reject, and how the Polyester community has grown from the safety of unapologetic belonging.
Polyester’s bold, hyper-feminine, maximalist aesthetic is not new. In its 2014 launch issue, it clearly stated: ‘Polyester is a celebration of all things trash, kitsch and camp.’ When Ione created the magazine as a 20-year-old university student, she was heavily inspired by the unashamedly loud and bright feminine aesthetics she found on Tumblr and early Instagram. Finding herself looking at these posts through a political lens, her aesthetic vision for Polyester was always going to be a reclamation of the things we are told are ‘unserious.’ Naturally, Ione was always drawn to makeup and loud styles like leopard print, and she wanted her work to reflect this femininity without being taken any less seriously. The zine not only embraces trashy but puts it front and centre, for example as seen in its series Trash Talks, featuring iconic guests including Judith Butler.
Ione found herself returning to John Waters’ quote and Polyester tagline, ‘Have faith in your own bad taste,’ because it reflected her own rejection of the status quo. She knew that Polyester’s audience was widely made up of marginalised groups who related to her appreciation for the garish and the kitsch. This fuelled the bold aesthetic that she had faith in; it’s a politically charged approach to representing the Polyester community across her pages.
Among the obstacles Ione faced when she first started was criticism for using such a bold aesthetic in a political and feminist context. Her work was marked ‘unintellectual’ by competing magazines, but for her, this was only a reason to continue to push boundaries. Changing what the publishing industry respects is no easy feat, but Polyester is an example of how value-driven journalism can make a difference. Today, Ione’s work is widely recognised, and Polyester is one of London’s leading, independently published, feminist identity and culture publications. Even as visibility grows, community remains at the heart of the zine, and what is most important to Ione is that her audience feels seen in her work.
Today, there are many publications adopting similarly bold, hyper-feminine, and maximalist aesthetics. Ione acknowledges that it’s rewarding to see that her work has impacted publishing in this way. She welcomes publications that are inspired by Polyester and adopt a similar style, but feels cheated when bigger corporations and brands co-opt ideas without working with her. As an independent publication boasting authentic creativity, it is disheartening to find your work replicated elsewhere without the recognition of its origins.
The visual evolution of each Polyester issue is true to its statement aesthetic and has only grown more distinctive since Ione started designing the spreads herself. After independently learning Adobe InDesign in 2016, she felt better able to translate the ideas in her head onto the pages, and the magazine has steadily become a stronger reflection of her creative vision. Ione doesn’t subject her work to the rules of what print should or shouldn’t be; she refuses to leave pages with a speck of white and loves to incorporate different shapes and colours.
When approaching the creation of a new issue, the Polyester team sits down to brainstorm ideas, starting with the theme before moving on to cover stars and photoshoot concepts. A decade in, the magazine is at a stage where brands pitch their talent to be featured, which is a testament to its influence and cultural impact. This growth is reflected in both the Polyester community and the internal team. Over the years, Ione has been able to employ a group of creatives to support her vision, and she feels lucky to have a team where each opinion is valued. Their collaboration has been essential in shaping Polyester into what it is today.
Polyester has already won so much for its community, carving out space for marginalised groups to express themselves authentically in all their weird, camp and trashy ways. The zine promises to always hold this space, and Ione vows never to assimilate into the mainstream.