To open the pages of Polyester is to enter a kitsch and vibrant world that’s gloriously feminine and DIY-spirited, where those that feel excluded from mainstream media are championed and where bad taste is delighted in with joyful glee. 

Over the past five years, the London-based feminist and queer-centred zine founded by Ione Gamble has tackled problems with mental health, body image, and politics with empathy and consideration all in its signature confectionary colored aesthetic. 

Now, to rejoice half a decade, Polyester is focusing its attention on beauty and what it means to us in 2019. “Beauty has all the time been an enormous a part of Polyester because right from the get-go we all the time desired to shoot all body types; and as a consequence of sample sizes being so restrictive, the perfect method to do this was through beauty editorials,” Gamble tells us.  

“I believe despite its problems, beauty is a reasonably accessible way for people to specific themselves; especially as a consequence of social media. It is so inspiring to see all of the teenagers that use make-up as a method to create personas via social media and to push away from the standards which were set culturally by the wonder industry.”

To place the problem together, Gamble turned to Polyester beauty editor Mona Leanne for joint creative direction, and the zine features contributions from Roxy Lee, Chloe Sheppard, and Lucy Alex Mac to call just a number of. The result’s a refreshing, celebratory tackle beauty and body positivity. Vibrant and imaginative, the shoots are welcomely far faraway from the drab imagery that every one too often is used to connote ‘real’ women. There’s flesh adorned with sequins and googly eyes, decorated with angelic cherubs, embellished with pick n mix candy. There are tiger lips, feathered eyes and winged vaginas. ‘Polyester’ stencilled onto buzzcuts and dripping down faces.  

“Something that is basically essential to me is to not only represent bodies which can be marginalised but to glorify them. Those that don’t slot in with what society considers beautiful don’t simply deserve acceptance, they need to see versions of themselves which can be glam, which can be excessive and aspirational,” Gamble says. “I would like to see people’s perceived ‘flaws’ not only represented but treated with love and care. All of us spend a lot time hating our bodies, the least I can do as someone who runs a publication is to try to offset that barely.”

Polyester Beauty Issue is accessible from October 31. Pre-order here.