A YouTube series created by an imaginative group of four friends has created an accessible and online-only community for young men to have fun with fashion. PAQ, pronounced P-A-Q, is the latest evolution of the self-expressive streetwear scene, and it prioritises the creative side of the hobby rather than the recent trend for mindless click-and-collect commercialism. Presented by four friends, Shaq, Danny, Dex, and Elias, and produced by Kyra TV, the weekly videos uploaded every Thursday feature a healthy dose of boys and their toys - private jets, Lamborghinis and superbikes all make momentary appearances - but the main focus is on four friends expressing their sense of style through fashion.

“Streetwear started as a form of rebellion,” says Danny, a skater and one of the programme’s hosts. “But it’s not really rebellious no more”, say Dex, another host and an aspiring musician. The show’s director, Kaio Grizzelle thinks streetwear has become uniform. Danny says, “Some people still think it’s [about] throwing on as many brands as possible, and however much your outfit costs is how good it it. There’s a lot of fashion being thrown around but there’s no style.”

PAQ’s aim is to turn style into substance. In skilfully produced 15-minute videos they compete against one another in challenges that range from styling each other on tiny budgets, to full-on advertorial campaigns for Adidas, but they say the biggest thrill is seeing how they’ll put their individual spin on each task.

The boys’ fashion inspirations are as far apart as Shaq’s Tupac and Dex’s Ozzy Osbourne, but that difference is embraced. While every challenge has a winner and each outfit is judged – sometimes by well known figures like Beats 1 radio presenter Julie Adenuga or Spanish-born Swedish-British singer Mabel (and sometimes by their mothers), no single style reigns supreme.

“We want to show you can express yourself in different ways,” says Shaq. Model and co-host Elias agrees. He says, “you can connect with one of us and be like ‘oh actually you’re [like Dex], really confident, wearing nail polish, [or] you’re [like me], really confident being the most flamboyant guy, you’re giving me the confidence to just be myself.”

That inclusive free expression is most important to the group. They told GQ the topics that get them most excited are gender neutrality, the growing acknowledgement of black beauty and talent, and myth-busting old tropes like “dressing for your age.” They also want to challenge the machismo stigma against this kind of self-expression. “You don’t really get entertaining shows about fashion,” says Danny, and it’s hard not agree. It’s great that there’s space on YouTube for a series encouraging men to enjoy playing with their style, and to do it unapologetically and with personality.

In the last year they’ve blitzed through many milestones on the platform, with close to 200,000 subscribers, some big brand collaborations in the bank and they’re keen to share the spotlight. One of the most recent videos puts a spotlight on other YouTube channels featuring stylish young men in a “Best Dressed YouTuber” video, featuring channels with subscriber counts as low as a few thousand.

“We’ve been discussing having an episode with graduates and fashion students, [and] putting them on the map,” says Shaq. They also want to throw more pop-up stores to connect with their audience and build a community. Their first attempt did just that. People made friends in the queue so frequently it created a saying, “PAQ brings friends together”. They’ve already made a huge difference. “I can fully say [joining PAQ] saved my life,” says Dex, “I felt like I was alone.” No longer. These boys are using their platform as an opportunity to try to positively change the lives of many others, and in these troubled times the world needs as much positivity as it can get.

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