Girls and Boys

Pin It
Girls and Boys front cover featuring Flo Dron
Girls and Boys front cover featuring Flo DronPhotography by Brett Lloyd

Today marks the launch of Girls and Boys, the latest publication from design duo and girlfriend and boyfriend Claudia Sinclair and Edward Quarmby. Taking the format of an A3 sized book that folds out into A1 posters, it features one girl and one boy

Today marks the launch of Girls and Boys, the latest publication from design duo and girlfriend and boyfriend Claudia Sinclair and Edward Quarmby. Taking the format of an A3 sized book that folds out into A1 posters, it features one girl and one boy shot by one photographer and plays on the idea of a classic pin-up.

For their inaugural issue, Sinclair and Quarmby commissioned photographer and longstanding contributor of Another Man Brett Lloyd. Renowned for his intimate, sensitive and often erotic portraits, Lloyd was the perfect fit having also self-published The Quieter Poster Boys in 2010, which consisted of 15 poster portraits documenting the boys he met on a road trip across Europe. “We’re both fans of Brett’s ‘boys’,” explains Sinclair, “and we were excited to see how his work would transfer to a girl. This is the only strict brief: one boy and one girl. Apart from that Girls and Boys is a platform for experimentation and freedom for all those involved.”

Having never shot a girl before, “except trannies” confesses Lloyd, the trio set out to find a girl and boy “that anyone would instantly feel an attraction to”. “The boy was easy,” tells Lloyd, “Gabe Mador is a modern David, he’s my renaissance man. He reminds me of the boys of Siciliy that Wilhelm Von Gloeden photographed.” For the girl it was more of a challenge: “We spent a week casting and Flo Dron was the last girl we saw. She had a feisty twinkle, almost as if she had come straight out of a Larry Clark dream. We needed a real character to fill these huge pages, and she did it perfectly.”

Shooting on five different analogue cameras – from a Pentax 67 to an old school Polaroid – Lloyd wanted to create a series of images that appeared like stills from his own angst-filled, teenage dreams: “I was working with Gabe and Flo to get my pin up ideals out in the open. It’s these teen frustrations and hang ups that I wanted to celebrate, blow up and have people stick on their walls.”

“I was working with Gabe and Flo to get my pin up ideals out in the open. It’s these teen frustrations and hang ups that I wanted to celebrate, blow up and have people stick on their walls"

“Girls and Boys is a product disguised as a magazine,” explains Sinclair. “The products are posters by interesting photographers of beautiful people. We want people to put these posters up on their walls; it’s about creating idols. Gabe and Flo, have this style and confidence that stands out, they are like the cool kids in the class, they are the perfect ‘crush’ material.”

Following the themes behind Girls and Boys, we asked its first cover girl Flo Dron a succession of quick-fire questions…

Girls or boys?
Boys...

Blond or brunette?
Not fussed.

Love or lust?
Lust.

Hugs or kisses?
Both.

Drinks or dinner?
Drinks – coffee?

Confident or shy?
50/50.

Bums or breasts?
Boobs.

Knickers or thongs?
Thongs.

Boxers or briefs?
Depends...

Bettie Page or Betty Grable?
Page.

Set-up or snapshot?
A great snapshot is cool, a great set up can be inspiring

Smile or frown?
Scowl?

Now or forever?
Now.

Girls and Boys issue 1 launches today and is available online and from selected art bookshops.

Text by Lucia Davies