Pretty Boy Joy is a published gender-fluid fashion editorial created for The Prestige Magazine. The story uses tailoring, sportswear, beauty details and deliberate shifts in body language to question the idea that masculinity and femininity must be presented as opposites.
Project Overview
- Editorial: Pretty Boy Joy
- Commissioned by: The Prestige Magazine
- Production date: August 9, 2022
- Format: Studio fashion and beauty editorial
- Pre-production: Two structured shot lists and a visual mood board
- Publication: Pretty Boy Joy: The Emancipation of Imposed Masculinity & Femininity
The Creative Brief: Build Range Without Losing the Story
The central creative challenge was not simply to produce a sequence of strong individual portraits. The wardrobe moved through tailored separates, formal suiting, sportswear, graphic knitwear and softer lifestyle styling. Each look needed its own attitude while still belonging to one recognizable editorial world.
The solution was to hold the visual foundation steady. A restrained studio environment, controlled two-light setup and consistent portrait treatment created continuity. Within that structure, wardrobe, makeup, gesture and expression were allowed to change the emotional register of the story.
Shot-List Planning for a Gender-Fluid Fashion Editorial
Two five-frame shot lists organized the planned coverage around full-length, three-quarter, medium and close-up portraits. Both lists specified predominantly vertical framing, low camera angles and a two-light arrangement positioned left and right.
That progression mattered. Full-length frames established silhouette and wardrobe. Three-quarter and medium portraits brought gesture, jewelry and styling into clearer view. Close-ups then gave makeup, gaze and smaller beauty decisions enough visual weight to carry the editorial idea.
This is the practical value of a photography shot list: it protects essential coverage without forcing every image into the same pose or emotional tone.
Creative Direction Through Contrast
The editorial gains strength from contrast rather than from a single styling code. Traditional menswear appears beside pink tailoring, painted nails, sculptural jewelry and graphic eye makeup. Athletic looks introduce movement and physical tension, while the seated lifestyle portraits feel quieter and more introspective.
These contrasts were not treated as separate concepts. They were chapters in the same visual argument: identity can hold strength, softness, theatricality and restraint at once. That idea also shaped the posing. Some frames rely on direct eye contact and grounded symmetry; others use extended limbs, off-axis balance or hands framing the face.
From Controlled Coverage to Expressive Movement
The sportswear images demonstrate how the same production system can support a very different energy. Low viewpoints enlarge the gesture, while diagonal limbs and shoes pushed toward the lens introduce depth. The neutral background keeps the color and movement legible rather than competing with them.
For brands, the lesson is useful beyond editorial publishing: a consistent lighting and framing system can create unity across varied looks, while planned changes in pose, crop and styling prevent the resulting image library from feeling repetitive. This balance sits at the heart of effective creative direction for fashion campaigns.
Beauty Portraiture as Storytelling
The close portraits do more than document makeup. Hands, rings, nail color, headwear and gaze become narrative elements. Because the composition is pared back, those details carry meaning without requiring explanatory props or an elaborate set.
The final black-and-white styling returns the series to a more graphic visual language. Pattern, hat shape, metallic makeup and dark nails create a concentrated closing chapter, proving how fashion storytelling photography can communicate an idea through a controlled sequence rather than through one literal image.
What Pretty Boy Joy Demonstrates
- A strong concept can accommodate variety. Multiple wardrobe identities remain cohesive when lighting, background and visual intent are controlled.
- Shot lists create freedom. Securing full, three-quarter, medium and close-up coverage makes room for more experimental poses without risking essential frames.
- Styling details can carry the narrative. Makeup, nails, jewelry and accessories are integrated into the visual language rather than treated as decoration.
- A sequence communicates more than a single hero image. The meaning develops through contrast, repetition and progression across the complete editorial.
Pretty Boy Joy was commissioned and published by The Prestige Magazine. The case study documents the creative and production decisions behind the finished work; it does not claim commercial performance or endorsement by the wardrobe and beauty brands featured.
Creative Credits
- Photographer: Phil Halfmann
- Creative Director: Sophia Lenore
- Wardrobe Stylist: Sophia Lenore
- Hair Stylist: Sophia Lenore
- Makeup Artist: Aida Greenidge-Gopie
- Model: Troy
Beauty Products Used
Makeup by Charlotte Tilbury; hair products by L’Oréal; nail products by USLU Airlines.
Wardrobe Credits
Calvin Klein yellow shirt; Coach sneakers; Dr. Martens boots; Dolce & Gabbana white shirt and belt; Gucci suit and black shoes; Hugo Boss suit; Karl Lagerfeld blue shirt, pink trousers, white trousers, black-and-white sweater and jeans; Ralph Lauren tracksuit; Prada white shirt, hat and frames; Puma tracksuit.
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