125 p. 115 p. 118 Rihanna photographed Raquel Zimmermann photo- by Nick Knight and styled graphed by Mario Sorrenti and by Edward Enninful. styled by Emmanuelle Alt. FREEDON In British Vogue, September In Vogue Paris, November 2018, London: Condé Nast, 2009, issue 902, Paris: p. 288. Condé Nast, p. 148. (AND ON AND ON) Tess McMillan photographed Sanne Vloet photographed by Charlotte Wales and styled by Michael Avedon and styled by Poppy Kain. by Joanna Hillman. In British Vogue, September In Harper’s Bazaar US, May 2018, London: Condé Nast, 2017, New York: Hearst, p. 333. p. 293. Natasha Poly photographed Sanne Vloet photographed by Mario Sorrenti and styled by Michael Avedon and styled by Emmanuelle Alt. by Joanna Hillman. In Vogue Paris, September In Harper’s Bazaar US, May 2009, issue 900, Paris: Condé 2017, New York: Hearst, Nast, p. 299. p. 290. Raquel Zimmermann photo- Kendal Jenner photographed graphed by Mario Sorrenti and by Camilla Akrans and styled styled by Emmanuelle Alt. by Tom van Dorpe. In Vogue Paris, November In Harper’s Bazaar US, May 2009, issue 902, Paris: Condé 2017, New York: Hearst, Nast, p. 146. p. 245. p. 116 p. 122 Anonymous model photo- Anonymous model photo- graphed by Cédric Buchet and graphed by Manel Ortega. styled by Anastasia Barbieri. In MANOLO, July 2017, issue In Vogue Paris, December 2009/ 02, Published by Manel January 2010, issue 903, Paris: Ortega, p. 82. Condé Nast, p. 175. Anonymous model photo- Anonymous (1827). Journal des graphed by Jody Rogac and Dames et des Modes. [fashion styled by Marcus Cuffie. plate] Rijksmuseum, Amster- In Hello Mr., August 2017, dam. Available at http://hdl. issue 09, New York: Hello handle.net/10934/RM0001. Mr. Inc., p. 43. COLLECT.488079. [Accessed 2 May 2019]. Anonymous model photo- graphed by Jody Rogac and Anonymous (1806). Journal des styled by Marcus Cuffie. Dames et des Modes. [fashion In Hello Mr., August 2017, plate] Rijksmuseum, Amster- issue 09, New York: Hello dam. Available at http:// Mr. Inc., p. 55. hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001. COLLECT.487972. [Accessed Iñigo photographed 2 May 2019]. by Luis Venegas. In BUTT Magazine, Autumn Ling Ling photographed by 2008, issue 24, Amsterdam: Nadia Ryder and styled by BUTT Magazine, p. 58. Sophie van der Welle. In Elle UK, June 2017, London: Hearst, p. 78. Shanzhai Lyric FREEDON (AND ON AND ON) 127 FREEDON echoes freedom but it has lost one line. The alter- In the Pearl River Delta, where an abun­ theft of resources, theft of time. The dance of the world’s goods are made for hybrid language that appears on shanzhai ation of M into N in the moments of manufacture reveals the export, alternate markets circulate items clothing – mostly made by women and known as shanzhai. In English, we might an object of fascination and derision say counterfeit, or bootleg, or fake. But around the world – can also be read as hollowness of the word, hobbling along, missing something. in our findings these translations aren’t ‛shanzhai lyrics,’ a feminist project of quite right. appropriation poetics, a form of écrit­ Taking delight in nonstandard English, FREEDON offers an In Chinese, shanzhai literally means ure féminine written from and on the body. mountain hamlet, suggesting an area where A la Nasrullah Mambrol’s description of ethics of error, valorising a ‘broken’ English for its ability to outlaws would stockpile stolen resources écriture féminine as conceptualized by to redistribute among those on the margins. Helene Cixous, shanzhai writing is also astutely and humorously comment upon a contemporary life The word shanzhai retains this sense of “characterised by disruptions in the text subversive resistance and rejects the such as gaps, silences, puns, new images... very notion of a single, original, right­ incomprehensible and inconsistent... it is that in many ways feels broken. In its half-hearted imitation ful owner. attributed to centuries of suppression of In shanzhai collaborations between the female voice, which now speaks in a of the English ‘freedom,’ FREEDON is at once a poor copy, seamstress and machine, the loom is a borrowed language.” 1 Wantonly rearranging potential instrument of rebellion. In a borrowed tongue, shanzhai writing as where something seems to have gone awry, and a demonstration snatched moments on unsanctioned tools, écriture féminine destabilizes hierarchy, the shanzhai shirt as stolen product and makes space for new insights at the of joyous abandon: the FREEDON to circulate freely, don protests a larger theft: theft of land, site of non­normative language. 1 Mambrol, N. (2016, May 14). ‘Ecriture whatever, and disregard the rules. Feminine’ on Literary Theory and Criticism. Available online at: The title of this article comes from a particularly poignant https://literariness.org/2016/05/14/ T-shirt found in Hong Kong last year. What appears to be a ecriture­feminine. spelling mistake can be a conceptual opening. Rejection of the standard carves a path towards poetic insight unmoored from LIVING IN POVERTY DOESN’T MEAN correctness. ‘Mistakes’ reveal a certain agency, the labour and STERILITY, IN THE FACE OF gesture of the human hand. FREEDON is a moment of freedom F THE PESSIMISTIC from the imposition of ‘freedom.’ It is the refusal of an empty THINKING ABOUT THE claim. FREEDON calls out freedom’s bluff. FUTURE STATE OF THE EARTH. THE RESULT OF MORE LIBERAL IDEAS KEEP CLOSE TO LIFE. NOMADIC MINIMALIST COSTUMES ARE CREATED BASED ON SPATIAL DIMENSION ISSUES LIKE MEDITA TION BLOWED AWAY BY MIST. THE NEUTRAL AND CALM VAPIDITY ENLIGHTENED USTO EXPLORE WHAT WE NEED ON EARTH. INESCAPABLE REALITY IS REFLECTED PERFECTLY THROUGH PLAIN AND SIMPLE TONES. 126 FREEDON (AND ON AND ON) 129 These T­shirts model what we might call shanzhai tactics, Logos become symbols that mock the hyperbole of branding: subverting hierarchy through exaggerated mimicry: financial anxiety de weakeens survival in dou profits down CAST Dow Inflation anortgage MONETARY mic disaster looming CAPITAL fear aro SHARES WORTH Crash! nalysts oses stimu i us slow revival assets cial crisis deepens dollar weakeens doubt Interest rates ECESSION FORECAST revivsund nalystsDownturn MONETARY slump Global Trends BUST! disaster looming announces trading loss oses stimu i us package asse CAPITAL INVESTMENT Crash! anxiety deepens rates survival in doubt Revival Rates ION FORECAST inancial crisis anortgage CAPITAL dollar weakeens MONETARY POLICY Profits down Global Trends Language is transformed into an unspooling pattern: jldjladjflaeijliajfdljfladjlajdfladjf 128 FREEDON (AND ON AND ON) 131 Shanzhai lyricism expresses contemporary consumer affect in an incisive and humorous poetic mode that reshapes recognizable phrases to undercut a culture of numbing positivity ENJOY THE and productivity: FREEDOM OF THE WORLD UNEMPLOYED totalitarianism Dear my boss, I N D E S P E N S I B L E I don’t want to was i for the weekens I’m going to find my happiness (Skateboard, Read a boot Surf, Travel, Dance Seep) SO I WILL QUIT!! Happiness Makes Please confirm business sense Chance Vogue Meili On theaicxa iswafrcoj the the aicxae mesor the Largely made from appropriated materials, “70% of garment workers in China are women, shanzhai writing can be read as evidence of in Bangladesh 85%, and in Cambodia as high what Marxist feminist scholar Sylvia Fed­ as 90%” 2 and wages for garment work remain The rampant interweaving of branded trade­ can afford to defend their plagiarism as erici, in her text Caliban and the Witch: unfairly low. These contemporary conditions marks, plagiarized material, and un­ innovation; the smaller operations of the Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation, reflect Federici’s argument that primitive recognizable content destabilizes clear secondary market cannot. refers to as “everyday forms of resistance,” accumulation is not only a historically distinctions between original and copy, the pilfering, smuggling, poaching, and pira­ situated occurrence but is “re­launched in undermining claims to intellectual property Perhaps the widespread appeal of shanzhai cy that have long been the daily survival and the face of every major capitalist crisis, rights. And yet, the rich and powerful products in the West (as evidenced by the subversion methods of the underclass to enact serving to cheapen the cost of labour and to continue to determine the parameters of who swell of articles, blogs, fashion lines, the redistribution of goods. A specifically hide the exploitation of women and colonial gets fined or jailed for violating them. As music and art projects both documenting feminist framing of shanzhai fashion produc­ subjects.” 3 the popularity of shanzhai grows, Western and inspired by shanzhai) has to do with tion links the daily uncompensated labour of corporations have begun making their own a sense that shanzhai writing rejects the women that enabled the development of cap­ shanzhai inspired lines – shanzhai shan­ logic of individual ownership and exploita­ italism with contemporary issues of unequal 2 Schultze, E. (2015). ‘Exploitation zhai. In its Canal Street shanzhai­style tion of the many by the few. Instead, it access to the wealth generated by technologi­ or emancipation? Women workers in pop­up shop, the brand Diesel sold DEISEL retains something of the shared resources cal innovation. the garment industry’ on Fashion merchandise, capitalizing on the aesthet­ and communal spirit of the commons, where Revo lution. Available online at: www. ics of counterfeit and the appeal of a communities sustained themselves on land Among the many tasks women did and do that fashionrevolution.org/exploitation­ deliberate flaw. Despite this cheeky hom­ that was not yet parcelled out by fences are not considered ‛labour’ and thus remain or­emancipation­women­workers­in­the­ age, who gets called (and sued for being) and hedges – and whose ownership and con­ undercompensated, spinning textile was tra­ garment­industry. a bootlegger has to do with the continued trol by a single person would have seemed ditionally a woman’s task.