An intimate exploration of softened masculinity. A KALTBLUT exclusive editorial. Photography by Mark Loopstra and Victor Kasiga. The model is Michael Ekow. ‘Pretty Boy’ is an intimate editorial in collaboration with Amsterdam-based artist Michael Ekow, named after the to-be-released track ‘Pretty Boys’, that explores beauty in masculinity beyond its rigid, patriarchal frame.
Rather than rejecting it, the project stretches masculinity into something fluid and layered, a space where softness
becomes strength, and where confidence and vulnerability coexist. In this space, femininity is not positioned as opposition, but as an extension: a natural part of all gendered expression that allows for playfulness, emotional openness, and sensitivity.
Working closely across styling, posing, and image-making, Ekow and photographers Mark Loopstra and Victor Kasiga cultivated a collaborative environment rooted in trust and experimentation. The resulting imagery traces a subtle unlearning of inherited masculinity, revealing a body at ease with itself, open, and receptive, that is inviting the viewer to explore this fluidity within themselves.
Photography by Mark Loopstra / www.markloopstra.com / Instagram: @markloopstra
and Victor Kasiga / Instagram @victorkasiga
Model: Michael Ekow / Instagram: @michael3kow
