My lunch date with NAYVA feels like catching up with mates. Jasmine (20), Angel (19), Esme (18) and Faith (17) — KYRA TV’s new YouTube girl gang — are crowded around a small table in Hackney’s Fingers Crossed café, settling into an animated debate about the dreamboat boys they’d like to style on their show. Timothée Chalamet and Leo DiCaprio are pinned as firm faves alongside Channing Tatum (“He’d just breathe and his shirt would rip off”), in the kind of conversation that, just a few months ago, might have taken place in their high school canteens.

After a rigorous all-singing, all-dancing audition process (yes, they’re open to being your future favourite girl band), three quarters of NAYVA boarded flights from LAX to join Jasmine in London last summer, and immersed themselves in the relatively fresh frontier of full-time influencing. “I went from my room with my own phone recording videos, then the next week big cameras, lights, this whole new lifestyle,” a bemused Esme laughs, flicking her hair with a pristine, monogrammed manicure: “It went zero to 100 real quick – it was insane.” Now they live together in two adjacent flats, sharing clothes and pinch-me moments on rotation. No more classrooms and canteens.

“When I was younger, I thought I’d never be able to do what I want to do in fashion because I wasn’t born into it,” Jasmine tells me, explaining their aim to portray the industry in a more accessible light through their laid-back, challenge-led videos. “We’re showing that normal girls can do whatever they want – wearing crazy clothes or
doing crazy makeup,” adds Faith: “It’s for young girls most importantly, but also just everyone in general to learn how to explore, love yourself, and try new things.”

All four have refined their own distinctive styles, which they adapt according to episode themes ranging from scavenger hunt-style thrifting, to Netflix-inspired looks. Faith usually channels “futuristic-Matrix-tomboy-chic”; Esme, “chill, baggy vibes – like TLC, if TLC stole your skater man’s outfit”; Jasmine flits between a “90s, Spice Girl-esque” style and “sleek, high-fashion-y” fits. Angel cites both uber-girly Y2K and the 70s as her current inspirations, and as their designated glam girl, she’s also the creative brain behind the four best sets of DIY gel nails I’ve ever seen.

But it’s not all sparkly parties and swanky clothes. Speaking about their ideas for the series, the girls light up with extravagantly ambitious ideas – from an extreme skydiving episode, to working with Miuccia Prada, Rihanna and Beyoncé. And though they’re building their platform online, the vision for NAYVA is directed towards experiences IRL: they’re planning international conventions, panel talks, partnerships and pop-ups, while dreaming of later setting up their own music and acting careers, charities, businesses, brands and beauty lines.

At its core though, NAYVA is about planting this same brand of no-limits self-belief within anyone who wants to join their journey. They’re inviting you not just to sit with them but to grow with them – to dream as big as they do, whilst having just as much fun.

Taken from the Spring 19 issue of Wonderland. Order your copy of the magazine now.