Let’s Take a Look at TENPLE zine!

I love that there has been so many j-fashion/alternative fashion magazines/zines popping up in the western community. The community can feel very intangible and somewhat shallow when I only experience it through “fast social media” inputs like Instagram. This is one way to create more balance for me. 

Since I backed Jaded Magazine Vol. 1 on Kickstarter a few years ago I’ve been trying to collect all the books I come across. It’s a little difficult because there are different pre-order windows I may not catch in time due to the only notification being an Instagram post for most of these publications. They are also usually $20 plus which can stack up when I am collecting. Also this is a very new avenue with most books only having 1 or 2 installments out. 

So far, I’ve gotten Jaded Magazine, Jelli Zine, TENPLE, and Rococo Zine. Today I will be reviewing TENPLE, a new fashion zine out of NYC by the Ten Ten non-profit. I hope to review more as I get used to writing for my blog.

My Approach: Informed by my years of experience with indie publications within and outside the j-fashion community, I will always be approaching reviews rooting for the creators of such projects. I want to take into consideration their vision, resources, and experience when forming my opinions and use that to summarize opportunities for growth rather than criticism based on it being a “product” that provides a “service” to entertain. Zines from the j-fashion community tend to be very high production to emulate commercial magazines. Compared to the wider zine world this is out of the ordinary. Most zines are lo-fi, handmade, imperfect pieces by design. This is to make the process and price accessible to as many people as possible. I wish to make that known to you as well so that can inform your judgement of these works going forward.

[Review Criteria]

The Facts

Title/Issue: TENPLE #001

Team: TEN TEN NYC,  “a non-profit organization that supports artists, fosters mental wellness, and builds joyful, inclusive communities through contemporary healing and emotional engagement.” Editor and point of contact is Blessed Pudding on Instagram who is a j-fashion community leader in NYC.

Summary: TENPLE is a zine who’s main goal is to celebrate the j-fashion community in New York and beyond through location specific photography and asking questions on how our fashion can positively impact our mental health. 

Country/Region: NYC, USA

Print Quality: My guess from printing comics myself is a 100# glossy cover and an uncoated text paper for the interior pages. It’s a full color book with around 36pages and 9in x 6in.

Content Variety: street photos of alt fashion community members 

Price: $25 sold through Barnes and Noble

My Opinions On…

Diversity: Since this issue featured 32 participants I was able to take the time to count out the style, color scheme, skin tone representation (from what I can judge) gender, and size rep (again in my humble opinion).There were at least 10 mid-dark skin tone participants and overall most participants seemed to be POC which was enough for me to feel represented and welcomed in the TENPLE publication. They span across styles and color schemes.

Styles Covered: As far as j-fashion styles represented I saw gyaru, fairy kei, decora, lolita, ishokuhada, shiro/goth, etc as well as some undefined styles. I loved the variety of color schemes, and representations of styles outside of lolita which tends to have more media focused on it. This gave me the impression that the NYC community has a lot of variety and expertise. Participants outside of NYC seemed well placed to fill in the gaps in style and representation where NYC couldn’t. 

In addition to amount of styles covered, I saw an effort to include more masc presenting outfits and models who weren’t women. J-fashion media often focuses on its female participants. Personally, I got a lot of ideas from the masculine coords to incorporate in my rotation. I know many in the community will be inspired and heartened by this effort.

Artistic Direction and Theming: The format of TENPLE seems to be heavily inspired by Fruits Magazine with some creative differences. Differences include a location focus (especially for photos shot by Blessed Pudding) where the background is thematically matched to the outfit/style and highlighting an aesthetic landmark in their area. Most backgrounds look to be outside. TENPLE reminds us that, though we connect a lot online, we wear these fashions outside in the open and we reflect our environment just as much as any mainstream fashion style. We out here lol Like Fruits, TENPLE features a plain white text outfit description next to the model. I enjoyed reading the additional quotes provided by models about their outfit or lifestyle. I resonated with Mika’s quote, “Fashion helps me navigate adulthood as it has arrived to me.” and Jay’s quote “ I think dressing different helps me understand different cultures and styles of dressing. I’m much more likely to appreciate most aesthetics too.”

I appreciate these qualities that make TENPLE unique while keeping the simplicity of their inspiration.  

Opportunities For Growth: I love TENPLE’s focus on the diversity of our community! I would like to see more size diversity if possible for future issues. They did have some though. I enjoyed the plain text descriptions but sometimes they were hard to read on certain background which may have to do with the paper quality as well. I almost would ask for a change on the paper to support sharper photos but I’m conflicted because I like the texture and lo-fi vibes the uncoated paper gives. A text box might be too much, however, maybe a more creative shape with a very light opacity text are may work for those few instances. 

In the summer, I found out about TENPLE’s release from a post in the Empty Your Clips discord server I host which is awesome! My wish for all indie pubs and repeating art fests is for there to be an email newsletter for big updates like submission periods, pre-orders, and full release. Like 3 emails a year depending on how often a new issue or event occurs. I’m biased as person who is actively taking steps back from fast social channels like Instagram and Tik-Tok but I do hear that others miss the sale dates and submission periods for publications they follow. The TEN TEN organization does have a newsletter sign up on their site but I haven’t gotten anything as of yet. They seem to be most active on Instagram regarding their news.

Charm Points:

<3 A notable amount of style, racial, and gender variety

<3 A cool look at the current fashion community in NYC

<3 A great zine for if you want to see the fits and get inspiration

<3 Short but insightful sometimes playful quotes from the models

<3 Maybe find some new people to follow

Final Thoughts: Overall, I would absolutely recommend TENPLE zine. They are looking to expand the variety of content to tutorials, interviews, and activity pages. I am genuinely interested in seeing how this publication grows over time!

How To Support/Submit: I don’t know the projected release frequency for TENPLE but you can email info@tenten.nyc about collaborations and suggestions. You can submit even if you’re not NYC based.

Publication Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tenple-001-ten-ten-nyc/1147873479?ean=9798319960580 

Thanks for reading you all! This is my first fashion zine review and I hope to do more. Did you like this level of detail? What do you think about TENPLE? I was thinking next time I could try to streamline it more like the charm points area I had. I’m still trying to figure out my voice with this blog. I forget that there is a learning curve when you do new projects even if it’s “just” writing your thoughts on something.