Q&A: All My Friends
BY GEN Z FOR GEN Z - All My Friends is crafting the community young creatives have been looking for. The LA-based zine has quickly built up a strong foundation and connection with their growing audience. Creating themed zines and website content from submissions, AMF curates an inviting and inspiring aesthetic that’s easy to get lost in. AMF continues to explore their style and where their platform will take, never seeming short of ideas to move them forward. Keep an eye out for their third issue and read below to learn more about their current inspirations, the world of Tik Tok and more.
LUNA: For those unfamiliar, can you please introduce All My Friends?
AMF: We are a magazine based in Los Angeles, created by Gen Z for Gen Z. Our content embodies youth creativity, fun, and all sorts of other things that we as a team believe in.
LUNA: What ultimately led to you creating the zine?
AMF: In the summer of 2019, our creator, Abby, was searching for a platform that she felt was welcoming towards a young creative like her. When she found no place to go, she decided that she would create something of her own.
LUNA: What have you been inspired by lately?
AMF: The other mags/collectives in this community! It’s really awesome that the art community that we exist in is so nurturing and kind.
Salwa Rahman! She’s a really really dope London based makeup artist who is going to be on the cover of our next issue! Her work is literally insane and she is so so talented.
Chloe Felopulos! She is a fab fashion goddess based in NYC and Paris and she’s our fashion goals.
LUNA: Are there any specific influences or references that shaped your latest issue?
AMF: I think everyone in the zine community really does inspire us, and its really amazing to be surrounded by so much beautiful content right now. We would say that the biggest thing that shaped this issue was honestly the state of the world. It has been both humbling and scary to be producing a magazine based on “Planet” right now.
LUNA: How do you stay motivated in your creative endeavors?
AMF: All of the support and how much we’ve been growing recently has been super encouraging and has helped us be motivated about putting out content. It is really cool how many people are interested in what we do.
LUNA: You've recently dabbled into the land of Tik Tok & definitely inspired a lot of publications to get on that wave. What do you like about having a new platform to explore?
AMF: Gosh… um… we tried out Tik Tok half knowing and half not-knowing what we were getting ourselves into. And for some reason our first one blew up? I think it has more than 30K likes on it. We ended up getting a lot of engagement and interest on the zine. Tik Tok’s all fun and games but we don’t intend on using it to define our community. I feel like there’s a certain energy that contains the stigma of being “Tik Tok famous”, or really, any social media app, and we don’t see a correlation between that concept and who we are as a creative collective.
LUNA: What do you love about your audience?
AMF: Something we feel really lucky about is the open mindedness and the overarching atmosphere of acceptance. Throughout our first year, we got to explore and pave our own paths through different approaches and creative endeavors, and our audience has been super supporting of it. We’re really grateful to be a part of a community that is loving and welcoming.
LUNA: Do you have any dream collaborations / features?
AMF: Clairo! (I think this is everyone's goal lol) OMG when I (Abby) started the magazine I wrote in my journal about how one day my biggest goal was to get an interview with Clairo. I think I’d probably cry.
As for me (Lina) personally, I’d say Greta Gerwig. I know she’s like… huge as of lately, but she has been my biggest inspiration ever since I watched her in Frances Ha. It’s my favorite film; are you surprised? But really, I could die happy if GG knew who I was even if it was for half an hour. I’d be more than content with that.
Also! Getting a collab with anyone from Illegal Civ would be so cool because our next issue is going to be themed (LOL a little plug and sneak peak for anyone reading) “Community” so they would just be so fitting.
LUNA: Why is it important to have a community for young creatives?
AMF: For us personally, we just don’t want anyone to feel alone. Like, unless desired, I think solitude can feel rather miserable? And so to be able to come together, hand in hand, it feels good being a family. We also understand that everyone may be going through something; whatever it may be, you know … you never know someone’s full story. And so to be able to express ourselves creatively with no lines to color within… It feels like we’re doing something in the right direction.
LUNA: If you could share any piece of advice for those wanting to start a zine or creative project, what would you like to pass along?
AMF: We would say first start and insta and try to get your page on @artopencalls and then open an email account and ask your friends to submit art to start. Reach out to your favorite creatives and see if they will submit work. And don’t stop doing it! It can be pretty discouraging at first but keep going, it definitely pays off.
LUNA: In what ways would you like to see AMF expand?
AMF: For our next issue we want to transform our current layout into one more feature based that is more specific to the theme and the creatives. And we want to do a live show! We <3 being a part of a community.
LUNA: How are you taking care of yourself during quarantine?
AMF: Obviously, we’re putting a lot of our hours into summing up content for Issue Three, but we all individually have been up to being creative. Whether it’s collaging, baking (shoutout @cookingwithporb), writing, or just laying in the sun, we find self care and spending time with yourself to be crucial. Of course, we’re also spending time with our audience via Instagram live streams or even Bedroom Prom. Good stuff.
LUNA: Do you have any upcoming plans / goals you’d like to share?
AMF: Yes! Our third issue should be coming out in the next couple of months and it’s going to be our biggest one yet. We’ve received over 250 submissions and our deadline is next month which is super exciting. We’re stoked for summer as well because there are so many good vibes flowing for the future!
