Meet our favourite winter talent

Taken from the winter 25 print issue of THE FACE. Get your copy here.

“I drew non-stop when I was younger,” says South Londoner Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. ​“My mum always encouraged it. I really liked video games as a child, too, but she preferred me to draw.” Little wonder that Danielle grew up to forge a career combining the two as a game designer and artist, focusing on immersive games centred on the experiences of Black Trans people. During her Fine Art degree at Slade, by day Danielle explored animation and by night made friends in the burlesque scene. ​“They did three new performances a weekin order to make rent by the end of the month,” she says. ​“That taught me an extremely functional, faster way of working that was outside of Slade’s intellectual practice.” Today, the 30-year-old still works at a frenetic pace – even on the opening day of October’s solo show at the Serpentine, she was with her team, planning the next one. So, how does she unwind? ​“I write a new game!” Always chomping at the 8‑bit [terrible – Gaming Ed].

@ladydangfua

As fashion designers go, Louis Mayhew has had an unconventional start. Growing up in Hertfordshire and leaving school after his GCSEs, the womenswear designer started off in manual labour, part of an apprenticeship in civil engineering. Though he admits to always loving fashion, it wasn’t until he was 20 that he decided to give designing a go. ​“I was working on building sites and thought: ​‘I want to try something else.’” After duly earning a BTEC in Fashion Buying, Louis went on to complete a BA and an MA in Fashion Design at London College of Fashion. For his graduate collection, the 30-year-old turned to his contracting background for inspiration, crafting garments inspired by kitchen units and paint buckets. That earned him a place within that incubator of cool, Fashion East. Now, he’s gearing up for his winter collection. On the mood board? ​“Latex gloves and fridge-door gaskets.” Construction, reconstructed.

@mayhew__

For Lalli Anjum, the art room at school was a refuge. ​“I was always getting dress-coded in sixth form for my skirt length, fishnets and piercings,” she says of her scene-kid phase. ​“But the art teachers would let me be.” Lalli’s dedication to her personal style prevailed and, at 17, the North Londoner booked her first modelling job, shooting for a magazine called Dazed in Marseille. ​“It was so crazy, I was wearing Saint Laurent and Thierry Mugler archive!” Lalli went on to study History of Art at Warwick. After graduation, she began assisting stylists, working on campaigns for brands such as Dries Van Noten and Paloma Wool, as well as on a music video for Saweetie. Lately, the 24-year-old has been making her own accessories, inspired by the South Asian embroidery techniques she learnt while visiting her grandparents. ​“All of my grandma’s clothes are custom-made. She’s always really inspired me. Her Pinterest boards are insane!”

@_lalls

Opting to study history and politics is rarely seen as a way to rebel. Then again, not everyone has artist parents. Plus, ​“Corbyn was up and coming,” Ipswich-born Dora Densham Bond says, the former Labour Party leader’s insurrectionist rise further encouraging her course at Manchester University. But her rebellion lasted about as long as Corbyn’s PM potential – after a year, she dropped out to study Fine Art and Art History at Manchester Metropolitan. Post-graduation, Dora interned at galleries before landing a role at art publication Plaster. Now the 25-year-old writes a weekly column about tearing around private views while also acting as the mag’s fun and flirty presenter on social media. Dora’s no stranger to a gallery bar, so what’s the key to a perfect private view? ​“Good drinks – no beers in a can. Someone cute to make awkward eye contact with. And a large crowd that spills out onto the road.” Look out, Mayfair.

@dora_db

If Henry Gibbs wasn’t a visual artist, there’s a high chance he would have become a dancer. The Buckinghamshire native attended a performing arts school in Aylesbury, training in ballet, tap and modern dance. But a trip to Tate Britain at 17 changed the course of his career: ​“It was a David Hockney exhibition,” he says, ​“and still to this day, it is the only exhibition that almost moved me to tears.” Eight years later, the 25-year-old graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in Fine Art and now spends his time crafting paintings and graphite drawings, translated to canvas by hand from digitally edited mechanical, half-tone dots. With a group show at London’s Herald St Gallery under his belt, we naturally wanted to know where we’d be able to find him at a private view. ​“Outside, with a Diet Coke and a vape,” he smiles. What flavour? ​“I’ve accidentally mixed two together – kiwi and passion fruit. Not nice.”

@henrymgibbs

“I see my clothing as an armour or a shield,” says fashion designer Yasmina Atta, who crafts unique pieces inspired by Afro-surrealist films, as well as objects as diverse as castles and candelabras. The 28-year-old grew up in Lagos, where she was surrounded by a culture of fabric and garmentmaking. Though she moved to London in 2016 to study sculpture (!) at (!!) Saint Martins College (!!!), her abiding passion for fashion drove her to take on a womenswear master’s degree that let her combine her interest in sculpture with clothing. Most recently, Yasmina has produced a collection inspired by medieval paintings of Black people she saw on Tumblr, making baseball caps in the shape of castles and transparent boots that echo their turrets. ​“I liked the idea of a knight that’s lost its way and is wandering around,” she says. For Yasmina’s next collection, she’ll be looking at the brand’s take on girlhood. And the muse? ​“I’d love for Ayo Edebiri to wear it.” Ayo, if you’re reading, hit us up…

@yasmina___________

You can catch Gianni Amosu, aka Mr Diligent, zooming around Soho on a Lime bike. The 17-yearold South Londoner has made a name for himself as a microphone clutching, chaos-causing content creator – caught somewhere between streetwear influencer and class clown – via interviews with the likes of Clint, Slawn and Big Zuu. The college student’s name, and the subsequent proliferation of the word ​“diligent” among teen boys (give it a search on TikTok if you don’t believe us), is inspired by a lyric from Dave and Central Cee’s Trojan Horse: ​“Two-man step, diligently /​Watch my back vigilantly” (a two-man step is a double date, btw, but you knew that). This year, Gianni will be tackling A‑levels in politics, classical civilisation and Spanish. Any plans for after that? ​“I’ll probably become a TikTok-ing prime minister.” Don’t doubt the diligence.

@mr_dilligent

PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Piers Rochford STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Olivia Easton