Posture Magazine champions underrepresented creators and entrepreneurs

This editorial was photographed by Cape Town-based photographer, Sisanda Mgedezi, and styled and creative directed by Buck Whaley and Christian Mpazayabo. Comprised of both Twobop’s womenswear and AW17 menswear collections, the team decided to play off the colourful hues and varying textures present in both collections. The concept was influenced by the 90s Hip-Hop Era and they wanted to play with the concept of masculinity and the way it is so evident through Hip-Hop culture, particularly with regard to its representation in the 90s. Christian and Buck are interested in the intersection between gender and fashion. It is for that reason that this project aims to push the binaries of how they understand gender and sexuality, and instead, imagine a world beyond those boundaries. In this work, they aimed to challenge the entrenched masculinity of the 90s Hip-Hop Era by juxtaposing stereotypical masculine poses, with soft, subtle, more feminine stances. This was propagated by the use of high-contrast make-up that aimed to compliment the garments, as well as to highlight the comparison to femininity in the shots. The styling of the editorial draws inspiration from carefree Hip-Hop artists, including Young Thug, Cee-Lo Green and Outkast. The hair styling drew inspiration from powerful black female artists like Rihanna, Lil Kim and Erykah Badu.

“In this work, [Whaley and Mpazayabo] aimed to challenge the entrenched masculinity of the 90s Hip-Hop Era by juxtaposing stereotypical masculine poses, with soft, subtle, more feminine stances.”