Editor in Chief Cecilie Harris
Editor Tessa Swantek
Publishing Director Nicky Gray
Fashion and Art Director Nathan Henry
Fashion Editor Rachel Allison
Art Editor Carla Vegas
Creative Direction Assistant Melissa Aggrey
Boys by Girls has stood for fifteen years, tethered by roots supporting our most basic cornerstone -truth. How do you capture truth? For us, it’s the narrow crevice between what is felt and what is performed. It’s the hint of embarrassment in a smile before eyes meet the lens, shifting under its view. It’s closed eyes that quiet anything other than inner life for a brief moment. It’s an expression that ripples and pulls, revealing deep-set lines as if to write, ‘We’ve felt this before.’ Through the feminine lens, we capture a uniquely personal narrative, unforced and honest.
Over twenty issues, we have worked with female photographers. In Issue 20, we revisit and emphasise our roots - those that have deepened and widened, connecting us with creatives globally. Alongside those who seek to capture the same authenticity, we revisit many photographers who have helped build Boys by Girls. Cecilie, our Editor-in-Chief, also shot two stories for this issue, reminding herself of the ephemeral moments she has bottled like lightning for over fifteen years.
Cecilie says, ‘I wanted to create a platform where the photographic curiosity of the real person behind the public surface was captured and interpreted.’ During our shoots, the camera clicks the moment the lens is forgotten, as talent laughs at a joke in the background, letting their shirts wrinkle and sleeves roll up. We have always sought to merge documentary-style storytelling with fashion; In this issue, we capture models and artists in their own spaces. Half-read books stack on red wool-covered floors, magnets and memories cover the refrigerator as it hums a welcome tune. Paint billows through cups of water like feathering clouds. Shoulders drop at home.
Our stories aim to be candid rather than crafted, lived-in rather than staged. Our conversations follow the same approach, allowing space not only for the often more prepared initial thought, but also for the unfiltered and unguarded one that follows. Cecilie continues, ‘In creating Boys by Girls, I wanted to allow our talents to speak honestly, and our audience to see the talent behind the masks we all wear.’ In a particularly special cover conversation, Sang Heon Lee and his sister, Gia Kim, talk through fragmented memories and unspoken understandings.
We began this issue with the broad lens of ‘Roots’, but it wasn’t until we started working with each talent that we realised the depth of each person's unique histories that ground them. But yet, there are so many interconnected feelings we all share. We hope that as you read this issue, you not only connect, but realise that none of us stands alone.
We hope to continue to be the circle of shade under a tree - a moment of relief, rest, and reflection. This is an issue of returning home, revisiting the past, the breadth of connection, and a reminder that growth happens at different rates. And that is more than okay.
This is ‘Roots’.
Our brand new Spring Summer '26 issue, Roots, printed on new premium paper, is out now. Covered by Belmont Cameli, Antonio Cipriano, Jalen Thomas Brooks, and Stephen Kalyn of Off Campus, Sang Heon Lee, and William Franklyn-Miller. Featuring Kieron Moore, Johnny Orlando, and more.
ORDER ONLINE Visit our shop to order your copy.
