Back in 2011, Riccardo Tisci was invited to guest art-direct the cover of Dazed’s 20th anniversary issue. Shot by artist Matthew Stone, the then-Givenchy creative director draped himself in three naked models for a shoot that celebrated his six-year reign at the Parisian powerhouse. Now, just shy of 13 years later, Tisci is back behind the wheel of a print magazine, this time as guest editor of Boy.Brother.Friend’s entire eighth issue. But rather than plonking himself on the cover, the designer has selected close friend and muse Michaela Coel to front the mag, devoting over 30 inside pages to the British-Ghanaian actor. In a shoot lensed by fashion faithfuls Inez & Vinoodh – and styled by editor-in-chief KK Obi – Coel morphs between modes and emotions, perfectly capturing the complexities of ‘Faith’, this issue’s running theme.
Since the mag’s inception in 2020, Obi has platformed underrepresented artists from the global African diaspora, a vision that Tisci has supported him in from behind the scenes. With issue no. 8, the designer personally takes up the mantle in a section that “celebrates the power of emergent and established artistic and cultural producers and their vitality in contemporary culture.” Elsewhere in the mag, Tisci tapped models Irina Shayk and Joan Smalls for a series of fictitious fashion campaigns from Luis de Javier, Mowalola and more, plus there’s further contributions from Dazed editor-in-chief Ib Kamara, artist Jebi Labembika, and poet Precious Okoyomon. For Tisci, bringing all of these people together was solely about “[using] my platform and network to propel some of the most interesting and exciting voices making a mark on creativity today.”
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