Names you need to know this winter

Taken from the new print issue of THE FACE. You can get your copy here.

When it comes to building a world around his collections, designer Yaku Stapleton doesn’t play around. ​“We’re even thinking about what kinds of plants and terrain these characters [who inhabit the world] come across in this next collection,” says the 27-year-old, who graduated from Central Saint Martins’ MA Menswear programme last year. This attention to detail is a crucial element of how Yaku has built his eponymous label, and that’s apparent in the fantastical clothes the St Albans native makes, from elvish hats to sculptural gauntlets. Yaku’s inspiration stems from Afrofuturism, a cultural movement he describes as a ​“redefining through escapism”, and TV shows that he grew up watching, such as the anime Yu-Gi-Oh!, which features ​“millennium items” that grant their owners magical powers. ​“If I were to design my own, I’d do a ring that, when twisted, could transport you back in time,” he says. ​“I’d go back to my earliest memory – playing Beyblade in the playground, 2003.” TL

Jay Lycurgo has come a long way from ​“playing the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz in Year Six and being too cheeky and lazy for my own good”, according to the 26-year-old actor. Born and raised in Croydon, South London, his dreams of becoming a footballer came to nought and he was then rejected from the BRIT School at 15. No matter: he made it into West London performing arts school ArtsEd and has since amassed a bunch of primo acting gigs. There was DC show Titans, which he joined in 2021, and Netflix fantasy series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself a year later. This year, he’s appeared in Sasha Nathwani’s indie feature Last Swim and has just wrapped filming on Steve, an adaptation of Max Porter’s novel Shy, in which he co-stars with Cillian Murphy as a close student-teacher pairing. As he puts it: ​“I hit the lottery with that one!” Mind you, Jay will be reuniting with the Irish actor soon: he’s just been cast in the Peaky Blinders film. JW

When Nottingham actor Mica Ricketts (pronounced ​“Mi-sha”) was little, she wanted to be whatever she saw on TV. ​“If I watched Marley & Me, I’d want to be a vet. If I watched The Mummy, I’d want to be an archaeologist!” she says. Really, what she wanted was to be an actor. Now, at 26, she’s more intrigued by the idea of a range of roles, rather than occupations: ​“I’d love to play a psychotic character, like Alice Morgan in Luther.” Mica can currently be seen in Steve McQueen’s WWII drama Blitz, in which she plays Jess, an 18-year-old thief who, with an ulterior motive, befriends nine-year-old protagonist George. Has Mica ever stolen anything herself? ​“When I was six, I walked out of a shop with a teddy. I thought if I froze and didn’t say anything, no one would notice!” We’ve got our eyes on you, Mica…TL

“I didn’t call myself a poet for a long time. I didn’t claim it because it felt like a duty,” says 27-year-old writer and rapper Isaiah Hull. But after opening for Skepta at Radio 1’s Big Weekend with his poem What is Grime? in 2016, supporting Kae Tempest in 2017 and producing poetry book Nosebleeds in 2018, Isaiah feels ready to take on the mantle. Though the Mancunian credits Benjamin Zephaniah’s comic classic Talking Turkeys with lighting that initial spark, it was punk poet Attila the Stockbroker who ultimately informed his confronting performance style. ​“When he was performing, people used to stand on chairs and throw shit. I’m very physical onstage – I would like people to go mad with me,” he explains. Another inspiration is Greek mythology, and if Isaiah were to identify with one character, it would be the doomed titan Prometheus: ​“Because he was a radical who wanted to share his resources.” You keep sharing that fire, Isaiah. TL

“I don’t feel happy with a song unless it’s a bit melancholic or unsettled,” says London-born producer and singer Lauren Duffus. Specialising in hazy electronica, the 27-year-old got into production over lockdown, playing around with Logic software and teaching herself as she went. ​“I don’t like getting help from other people,” she explains. ​“And being a woman in music, I don’t want someone to be like: ​‘Oh, she doesn’t fully produce this herself.’” She developed a distinctively moody sound and, soon after her first SoundCloud uploads, landed her own glitchy, experimental NTS radio show. She’s currently making her second EP, the follow-up to 2021’s Sulk. ​“I’m working with a label and deadlines for the first time, so I’m fully in hobbit mode,” she says. But if you really want to find her? ​“I’ll be in the Catford Island Lidl, buying lemon sorbet!” TL

Design duo Nuba, AKA Cameron Williams and Jebi Labembika, are on a high, still flying after the CSM graduates (Cameron’s degree is in menswear, Jebi’s in fashion communication) were accepted as part of the prestigious Fashion East cohort of emerging talent to watch. They met at college, fostering both a friendship and fruitful creative partnership fuelled by, as Cam puts it, ​“the way we look at clothes and want to express a story of culture, heritage and taste”. After graduating in 2020, he started Nuba. Three years later, Jebi joined him as co-head of the brand. Cam is in charge of all things practical and design-led, while Jebi’s job is to fantasise and be the creative director. What defines Nuba? The rich fusion of British, Caribbean and West African cultures, particularly through the lens of mothers. ​“How they carry themselves and inhabit their city through style,” says Jebi. ​“The street is an endless resource,” Cam adds. ​“We want to keep fostering the community around us.” JW

PHOTO ASSISTANT Sunita Yang STYLIST’S ASSISTANT India Ashmor