SAMUEL WATSON *discusses Career Formation, Pressure, and Long-term Orientation in Fashion

That´s How Samuel Watson Manages Pressure, Rejection, and Forward Momentum

interview + written CHIDOZIE OBASI

When it comes to fashion, the emergence of a promising new talent still carries weight. In an industry shaped by saturation and accelerating cycles, it takes discipline, persistence, and clarity to sustain attention.

Sam wears a total look by MOSCHINO

Following campaigns for Emporio Armani and Alan Crocetti, and most recently appearing as the face of Calvin Klein’s global underwear campaign, Samuel Watson continues to define his position within a system he has long been committed to. Yet visibility alone is not the endpoint. “I’m someone who deeply values having a home base, and the more I grow, the more owning a place of my own would mean the whole world to me,” he reflects, fully aware that professional affirmation rarely follows a straight line.

In conversation with LE MILE’s Fashion Director Chidozie Obasi, Watson discusses modeling, personal pressure, mental health, and the longer trajectory he is working toward.

Sam wears a total look by LORO PIANA

Sam wears a total look by ZEGNA

Chidozie Obasi
Could you kindly introduce yourself to us?

Samuel Watson
I’m Samuel Watson, aged 22 from Sydney, Australia.

Who were the biggest inspirations you had while growing up?

My biggest inspiration would definitely have to be my parents. They’re the hardest working people I know, and watching their dedication and resilience growing up really shaped how I approach life. I try to carry that same work ethic into everything I do, both personally and professionally. Another major source of inspiration came from the online fitness space. When I started high school, I was naturally very skinny and felt insecure about my body. That pushed me to dive deep into learning how to build and transform the human body. I became obsessed with self-education—reading, experimenting, and training consistently. Over time, it became not just a passion but a skill I still use today in my career as a model.

How did you venture into the fashion industry?

While I was studying psychology at university in Australia, my partner at the time was working as a model. I saw how much fun she was having and the incredible experiences she was gaining. When she suggested that I could model too, I decided to give it a shot. She referred me to her agent, who signed me—and from there, the rest is history!

What have been your biggest pinch-me moments so far?

The biggest pinch-me moment has to be my first Emporio Armani Underwear campaign. I had just returned from a week away at a music festival with friends when I got a call from my agent telling me I was flying to Milan in four days to shoot the campaign. I was absolutely ecstatic—this was my first major job. To make it even more surreal, a friend sent me a photo a few weeks ago showing my campaign image painted on the side of a building in the middle of Milan. Needless to say, I was speechless.

Sam wears a grey coat by CELINE, a blazer by BRUNELLO CUCINELLI, a shirt by BRIONI, and pants by DOLCE & GABBANA

Sam wears a total look by PRADA

How do you deal with rejection and downfalls?

Rejection is a constant in this industry. After nearly three years of modeling, I’ve become so used to it that it doesn’t really affect me anymore. From a professional standpoint, I never take it personally. If an option falls through, I shift my focus to what’s next.

I genuinely believe that setbacks are opportunities to grow. You pick yourself up, learn from the experience, and move forward stronger. Spiritually, I often take rejection as a sign from the universe that something else is meant for me.

In an industry shaped by complexities, how do you maintain positivity and protect your mental health?

Thankfully, I’ve managed to maintain a healthy mental state throughout my career. I credit that to keeping things simple—sticking to a consistent workout routine, eating nutritious whole foods, and living a balanced lifestyle, even while traveling. The fashion industry constantly puts you in situations where you need to make big decisions, and it can feel isolating since modeling is such a unique job. When I find myself stressed, I go for a walk and mentally play out scenarios. It helps me gain perspective and simplify whatever I’m facing.

What is your biggest aspiration right now?

Right now, my main goal is to grow within the fashion industry. I’m fully focused on modeling and excited by the momentum I’ve built so far this year. There are a few projects yet to be released that I can’t wait to share. Outside of modeling, one of my dreams is to own a small cottage in my hometown. I’m someone who deeply values having a home base, and owning one of my own would mean the world to me. It goes hand-in-hand with achieving success in my career, so I’ll continue working hard to get there.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

I’d like to thank the team for creating such an incredible piece of work and for the amazing experience I had throughout the process. It’s a true honor to be featured in the print issue of this magazine and to have collaborated with such a talented group of people. Honestly, this shoot pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’m naturally a pretty mellow person, so “going mad” in front of the camera didn’t come naturally. But with the encouragement and creative energy on set, I was inspired to step into the story—and together, we created something truly beautiful.

Sam wears a chequered skirt by INSTITUTION, a pleated skirt by JIL SANDER by Lucie and Luke Meier, jewellery by VOODOO JEWELS, shoes by SEBAGO, and socks by CELINE

Sam wears a blazer by GABRIELE PASINI, a black shirt by ALESSANDRO GHERARDI, a denim shirt by DIESEL, pants by ACT N1, and shoes by DR. MARTENS

photography   COSIMO BUCCOLIERI via STUDIO REPOSSI
fashion director + stylist   CHIDOZIE OBASI
head of production   JESSICA LOVATO
contributing editor   LUCA ROSEI
fashion coordinator   ALBERTO MICHISANTI
copy editor   EDWARD PUSCA
make up + hair   SARA BERGAGLIO via MKS MILANO using MAC COSMETICS
set designer   THALA BELLONI
model   SAMUEL WATSON via WW MGMT
photography assistant   ANTONIO CROTTI
fashion assistants    LORIS VOTTERO + CLOE RUBINATO + ANNA REGGAZZONI + MARTINA MANENTI + ALESSANDRA DI MUGNO + ANGELICA GUAMAN + REBECCA ASTORINO
copyright LE MILE Magazine / ACosimo Buccolieri

JOSH S. ROSE *on Performance, Movement, and Photographic Observation

Technical Romanticism
How Josh S. Rose photographs Performance as a Technical and Human Act

written + interview JONATHAN BERGSTRÖM

Josh S. Rose is a visual artist and storyteller working across photography, film, and writing. His practice brings together visual and performing arts, centering on movement, emotion, and image. Recognized for his collaborations with leading visual artists, choreographers and dance institutions, Rose has built a unique artistic language that captures other art forms, especially performance, as both a technical feat and a deeply human experience, an approach he describes as “technical romanticism.”

Lenio Kaklea / The Birds
Performance documentation at MOCA November 2025
Performer Nefeli Asteriou
seen by Josh S. Rose

courtesy of MOCA

From photographing Lenio Kaklea’s The Birds to developing contemplative series such as Tired and The Standouts, Rose turns his lens toward how bodies move through space, time and social expectation. Whether documenting choreography, tracking the passage of daylight, or observing everyday gestures, his work focuses on the patterns and interactions that shape each moment. In this interview with LE MILE, Rose discusses the trust required to document dance, his approach to experimentation within live performance, and the ways repetition and observation inform his evolving work.

Jonathan Bergström
How did you come to photograph The Birds by Lenio Kaklea?

Josh S. Rose
This is one of those things that happens in a minute, but really over years. Kaklea’s piece was coming to the States for the first time and being performed at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Dimitri Chamblas, a longtime collaborator and prominent choreographer and artist, recommended me to shoot it, as they were looking for someone who could jump in and capture the essence of the piece. Almost every performance I capture happens either with someone I have worked with a lot, or recommended by them. Dance is very personal and needs to be captured with care, but also very technical. The light is always changing, the movement can go from fast to slow and a shape comes and goes very quickly. I’m often seeing it for the first time with the audience. So, I’ve built up the kind of trust over the years that makes me a viable person to explore still photography during a performance like this.

When photographing choreography, what visual moments are you paying attention to?

Most choreographers who design for the stage are thinking about a mix of things: there is the meaning of the piece that is expressed through blocking, movement, shape and the interplay of dancers, but there is also wardrobe, art and lighting that help define that concept. Incredible works, like what Kaklea has created, have other things going on, too. At one point, she had a performer fly a drone and projected the drone’s view to the backdrop of the stage. In another, a trapeze hangs from the ceiling. Chamblas, who I mentioned earlier, does a piece with a giant floating balloon structure above the stage. Los Angeles Dance Project has a piece running that uses artwork from Barbara Kruger.

I often shoot dancers performing in and around art installations. So, I try to understand what it is that is trying to be impressed upon the audience and then heighten or accentuate that. I’m very interested in where the interplay of these elements happen. I like to find compositions within those juxtapositions. It’s like shooting a meteor shower or something. Every shot you take is different and you have to be okay with that and accept that a lot of this is stochastic. You’re in the design, so there is no bad shot. You don’t think in terms of good or bad, but rather in deeper explorations of the meaning of the work. It’s interesting that Kaklea’s piece is called The Birds, since birds are a great example of natural patterns of design. For whatever reason, I am very comfortable in a space like that, if not entirely amazed and inspired by it. I think that excitement and curiosity fuels how I see and shoot.

Lenio Kaklea / The Birds
Performance documentation at MOCA November 2025
Performer Jaeger Wilkinson in the back Louis Nam Le Van Ho and Amanda Barrio Charmelo
seen by Josh S. Rose

courtesy of MOCA

How do you balance documenting the work with expressing your own visual style?

My own style is a bit more experimental, or maybe looser, than it is straight documentation. Though when shooting a performance, I make sure I honor the work put into the production. Often what will happen is that I get inspired to try something within any performance and take the time to explore it. Sometimes that is literally two different cameras, but more often it’s a quick idea in between something more formal.

When I am being more expressive in my shooting, I like to experiment with double exposure, filters and often I will mess with the horizon line or find a surprising or unconventional composition. I think of these as tools for emotional expression. I think my visual style is a result of that personal approach, where my own chaotic-curious way of shooting meets the frenetic-emotional nature of dance. When it hits right, I think it sits at the edge of abstraction and that is what makes it beautiful. A certain level of unknown in art is meaningful because it leaves some things to the imagination, plays in the dark and feels wild and free. Often you have to fight against the exactitude of photography to achieve that kind of work.

Let’s talk about Tired. Why did the sun’s passage across the sky feel like the right structure for the project and what did committing to the full arc of daylight reveal that a single moment could not?

Tired is also about movement. But in this case, it is expressed through time. To feel the sun move, not by looking at it but by seeing how it changes something static, seemed like an observation worth pursuing. I became aware while shooting it that I was spinning, or the Earth was spinning with me on it. The interplay of movement here only happens if you sense the sun’s movement, or, in reality, ours. Once that idea entered into the equation, I could no longer see the piece without the narrative element of time.

I think with Tired, the visual is so arresting. This pile of tires is immediately metaphorical. If you look at two shots of it, the movement of the sun is actually hard to notice at first. But that’s what is interesting to me. You have to ask why it’s being duplicated. When you see the difference and focus on the subtleties, that’s when the idea reveals itself. I like an image or series that invites you to explore it. Less immediate, but the potential to reveal more.

You mention the contrast between movement and stationary objects whose purpose is movement. How did that idea guide the project?

I mean, who doesn’t feel a little run over by the wheels of time? Especially these days. This is the flip side of moving, of the revolutions we go through in our lives, of aging. I think we look at tires and think, yeah, that’s me, too - round and round and round. I just wanted to make sure that idea hits you when you look at it. You might have felt a bit of that with just one image, but spread out the images over time and I think it becomes an unavoidable takeaway.

The Standouts
seen by Josh S. Rose

“Dance is very personal and needs to be captured with care, but also very technical. The light is always changing, the movement can go from fast to slow and a shape comes and goes very quickly.”

Josh S. Rose speaks with Jonathan Bergström
for LE MILE .Digital

Compared to Tired, The Standouts feels more outward-facing. How did that change your role as an observer?

The Standouts is still me wondering out loud. In that work, I’m the outsider who quietly sits in the shadows and observes the louder, bolder, more assertive animals of the species. In all my photos, I feel like observation is key, but I think what might be felt in The Standouts is perhaps just a little bit more of an opinion. It’s not about all people, which a lot of art strives to be, it’s about a certain kind of person. But we all know this person, we even have a little of them in us, too. It’s not me, but it is something I recognize in me, in all of us. So, I’m observing others, but I’m questioning it inside myself, too.

In The Standouts, you describe behaviors such as running, shopping, and adding flair as efforts to “be more than who we are.” What made you want to examine these actions through this work?

I remember when I came of age and started finding myself at bars in my twenties, one of the things that stood out to me the most was the way people got louder as the night went on. To a point where, late into the night, a guy would just yell at the top of his lungs or a girl would take her top off, or cry performatively in public. It happened every time. And being, let’s just say less outgoing, it always seemed odd, behaviorally. I mean, I’ll be honest, I never liked it. But there’s a phrase, “We often dislike in others what we most dislike in ourselves.”

So, this is how I see people, or at least a subset of people, or subset of ourselves, as striving to be seen, heard and appreciated: look at me. But if I examine it, this is about me not really putting myself out there in that way and wondering about it, observing it, dealing with it.

I should talk about the stretching part. It’s purposefully rudimentary. It is supposed to feel almost clumsily done because it’s meant to show the thinking, the observation, and how when we do endeavor, it’s often less refined than we believe it to be, verging on rude, or abrasive. These are simplistic desires, being big. I’m just sort of anthropomorphizing it, having it over-manifest in them. There’s some Kafka in it.

When working on this series, did you find yourself observing people, culture, or behaviors, or all three at once?

All three are access points when I’m capturing for this series because some displays are more individualistic and others happen culturally. Going to the beach and being on display in a bathing suit is cultural, so is shopping or going to a museum. But running or standing on a wall with your arms outstretched is more of a personal choice that can be behavioral or even just one person’s colorful feather display.

The Standouts
seen by Josh S. Rose

The Standouts
seen by Josh S. Rose

Each of these projects presents endurance in different forms, physical, temporal, and social. Was that connection intentional?

Humans do have to contend with endurance. Doing things over and over again creates patterns and I put myself in positions to observe and shoot these patterns. I think what the question is keying in on is that there is also a human effect from this. I think that what I am often most intent on is how we respond to our need to endure in order to live. I imagine that is coming across in all of this.

Looking across these three bodies of work, what stands out to you now that may have been invisible at the start?

Movement has been a big part of my trajectory as a photographer. A lot of people know me through my dance work. I think what is coming out as my work evolves into series like this is that there is a deeper meaning to movement; there is more to it than the beauty of doing it gracefully. You can do that, but the full spectrum of how we move through life is on display through these works.

Are there any current works or cultural movements in music, film, literature, or art that feel especially inspiring to you at the moment?

I call my work “Technical Romanticism.” It’s an homage to the Romantic painters with whom I most identify as an artist. This was a time in art when artists were making works that captured the human response to the environment around them, with all the emotions and drama that that entailed. This reaction against order, reason and restraint is important in art. It empowers the emotional being and discusses the intersection of world events with its effect on us as human beings. People responding to their environments, it takes many different forms. But all of them feel inspiring to me. That is the direction my curiosity goes when I have a camera in my hands.

Tires
seen by Josh S. Rose

“What is coming out as my work evolves is that there is a deeper meaning to movement; there is more to it than the beauty of doing it gracefully.”

Josh S. Rose speaks with Jonathan Bergström
for LE MILE .Digital

all photography (c) Josh S. Rose

SHAHRAM SADAAT *on Photography, Identity, and Visual Culture

SHAHRAM SADAAT
Catches What Slips Between The Hours

written + interview HANNAH ROSE PRENDERGAST

Some sports aren’t sports at all. And yet, the groceries won’t take themselves in. Every day runs its course, but Shahram Saadat is there for the moment it falters — shut out in the hiss of closing doors. What most overlook, he catches instinctively, letting the absurdity frame itself. Life is so good at this; we rarely bother to notice everyone trying to make it in one trip. For now, you are here.

Photography by Shahram Saadat. Styling by Katie Shaw. Hair by Moe Mukai. Make-up by Stevie Squire. Casting direction by Emma Matell with casting assistance from Oliwia Jancerowicz. Set design by Sophia Willcox. Production by Sophie Hambling. Photo assistance by Dylan Massara with styling assistance from Sorcha Kennedy. Design by Stela Kost. Set assistance by Oliver Bell. Models: Cam, Don, Freddie, Isabella, James, Lian, Patrick, and Sarah.

Hannah Rose Prendergast
How has growing up between British, Iranian, and French cultures shaped your perspective and the relationships you form through the camera?

Shahram Sadaat
I’ve always lived between cultures, surrounded and shaped by them — but never fully belonging to just one. Growing up in different countries with parents from different backgrounds, I picked up pieces of each place: the language, the food, the traditions, the humor. I’ve learned to adapt, to blend in, to understand people from all walks of life. At the same time, I’ve often felt like an outsider, carrying parts of many homes without ever fully settling into one. It’s a strange in-between space, but it’s also where I feel most myself. My identity isn’t tied to one culture or place; it’s made up of all the little things I’ve absorbed along the way.

You staged Target Practice in Norwich in 2022 — a setting far from American gun culture, at least on the surface. What unexpected parallels stood out to you?

Target Practice was part of an ongoing series exploring the social dynamics and demographics of British cities. Each project involved traveling to a new location with a concept in mind, allowing the work to unfold through spontaneous interactions with locals. I found striking similarities: a shared fascination with control, threat, and spectacle, shaped by media, pop culture, and imported imagery.

Working with “real” people rather than actors brought a rawness to the project. Many participants were initially taken aback by the setup, but they quickly leaned into it — adopting poses, expressions, and gestures that revealed both playfulness and deeper social conditioning. It was in these unscripted moments that the tension between reality and performance became most visible.

How do you navigate the responsibility of representing a community you’re both part of and apart from?

It means holding a unique and sometimes challenging position: speaking from lived experience while also acknowledging that my perspective may not align perfectly with those who feel deeply rooted in that community. I carry parts of the culture with me — its values, stories, and struggles — but I also observe it from a distance, shaped by my own mixed background and experiences.

This dual position gives me the ability to translate, to bridge, and to connect. At times, it feels like I’m walking a tightrope, trying to honor the culture without claiming to speak for everyone in it. It also gives me a deep sense of responsibility: to listen carefully, reflect honestly, and represent with humility and care.

In both Jogging with Shopping and Out of Office, you explore how wellness and burnout are performed rather than felt. What draws you to these displays of efficiency and exhaustion?

We’re constantly under pressure to live efficiently — eat well, exercise regularly, and never waste a minute. Jogging with Shopping came from observing people in East London, where these expectations collide in everyday life. Society tells us to stay fit, eat healthy, and be productive, but also not to let any of it slow us down. So we merge it all — jogging with shopping bags. It’s a reflection of how wellness and efficiency get tangled, turning even self-care into something performative and rushed.

We’ve learned to wear exhaustion like a medal. In a world that measures worth by output, showing how drained we are becomes a way to prove we’ve tried hard enough, cared enough and pushed far enough. It’s not just something we feel — it’s something we display, hoping our struggle will be seen and, maybe, finally, validated.

How do you think our relationship to images has shifted, especially in the age of AI and visual manipulation?

We’re more skeptical than ever — even real images or videos can feel suspect. At the same time, we’re also more vulnerable to falsehoods, because manipulated content can look so convincing. The line between what’s real and what’s fabricated has blurred, forcing us to question not just what we see but how we decide what to trust. Believability now relies less on what looks true and more on context, source, and critical thinking.

For me, it’s less about exaggeration and more about reflection. Performance and documentationbegin to overlap — you’re not creating the surreal, you’re revealing it. In those moments, thework becomes a mirror, holding up the chaos, contradictions, or humor that already exist. It’sless about inventing absurdity and more about finding clarity within it.

“Machines give us structure in a world that rarely slows down.”

Shahram Sadaat speaks with Hannah Rose Prendergast
for Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

How does going cashless change not only how we spend, but how we value ourselves?

When money becomes invisible, transactions feel less personal and more abstract. We’re less aware of what we’re giving up, and that can blur the emotional weight behind our choices. At the same time, with digital payments and financial tracking, our worth can start to feel tied to numbers on a screen — credit scores, spending habits, digital footprints — rather than our real-world character or contributions. In a cashless world, there’s a risk that self-worth becomes more transactional, more measurable, and less human.”

In The Whale (2024), the car wash becomes “a forced moment of respite.” Why do you think we rely on machines to grant us permission to pause?

Machines give us structure in a world that rarely slows down. Notifications stop, timers end, apps tell us to breathe — it’s as if we need external validation to justify rest. In a culture that values constant productivity, a machine’s signal can feel more acceptable than our own intuition. It becomes easier to listen to an app than to our bodies or minds, because we’ve been conditioned to associate rest with guilt — unless it’s scheduled, measured, or approved by something outside ourselves.

What place does Duende hold for you and the wider community?

Duende began as a gallery space and continues today as a publishing platform. Co-run by Sophie Hambling and me for several years, our mission was to showcase emerging artists with a strong emphasis on community and accessibility. As our practices evolved, it became more challenging to maintain a regular exhibition schedule. Duende remains active, though — we continue to participate in international art fairs and publish editions throughout the year, keeping the spirit of the project alive in a more flexible form.

What makes a compelling lookbook image?

It comes from the everyday — those small, often overlooked moments that carry their own strange poetry. I’m drawn to the idiosyncrasies that naturally unfold: a misplaced object, an awkward gesture, a clashing pattern. These aren’t staged or manufactured — they just are. But when you frame them in a photograph, they take on new weight. You’re not just documenting something mundane; you’re elevating it. You’re exposing its quiet absurdity or beauty. In doing so, you heighten that strange, liberating feeling of who the fuck cares — a kind of irreverence that resists perfection and embraces the mess of real life. It’s not about spectacle; it’s about attention — seeing what’s already there and choosing to care just enough to capture it.

What’s the secret to successful living?

I have no idea. Let me know if you find out!

“When money becomes invisible, self-worth risks becoming transactional.”

Shahram Sadaat speaks with Hannah Rose Prendergast
for Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

all photography (c) Shahram Saadat

CHRISTINE ADAMS *Talks Restraint, Exposure, and Endurance in Hijack 2

CHRISTINE ADAMS

—Talks Restraint, Exposure, and Endurance in Hijack Season 2

interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Christine Adams appears in the second season of Hijack in a storyline shaped by isolation, memory, and the lasting pressure of consequence. Her character Marsha occupies a space removed from the immediate emergency, allowing the series to linger on psychological endurance and emotional exposure.

Christine Adams wears a coat by PAUL COSTELLOE, a top by WOOL PROJECT, pants by THEO, shoes by TABITHA RINGWOOD, and bags by ROGER VIVIER and PAUL COSTELLOE

Season 2 premieres on January 14, 2026, on Apple TV+. Created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, the new chapter situates its central crisis on a hijacked train in Berlin, with Idris Elba returning as Sam Nelson. Alongside this high-pressure arc, Marsha’s journey unfolds through distance and interior tension, offering a parallel line shaped by aftermath.
Set one year after the first season, Marsha appears in a different phase of her life, marked by vulnerability and raw exposure. Adams works with restraint and precision, carrying extended passages alone and allowing stillness to hold narrative force. The performance depends on focus, emotional discipline, and sustained attention over time.

Christine Adams wears earrings by MAISON LUMIERE, a jacket and skirt by AHLUWALIA, and shoes by PLEIADES

Christine Adams wears earrings by ARTE NOVA JEWELLERY and a full look by GIORGIO ARMANI

Alban E. Smajli
In Hijack season 1, the tension lived at 30,000 feet. In season 2, where does that tension live for you as an actress?

Christine Adams
Most of the action this season unfolds on a train in Berlin, creating a very specific sense of momentum and claustrophobia. My character’s storyline, however, exists almost entirely outside of that world and stands alone in a place that is very remote. There’s a deliberate contrast between these two environments. What was set in motion in season reverberates into season two in a form the audience won’t be expecting, shifting both the emotional weight and the perspective of the story in surprising ways.

What part of your character’s journey in Hijack did you want to push further this time?

We meet Marsha at a very different place and time in her life, one year on. The strength and composure that defined her in season one have fallen away, leaving her far more vulnerable and exposed. There’s a rawness to her now - emotionally, psychologically, and at times quite literally, which allows the audience to see parts of her that were previously hidden. It’s a stark contrast to who she was before, and it opens up a much more fragile, intimate portrait of the character.

When you play someone who is constantly navigating pressure, how do you protect your own emotional space off set?

It’s a tricky one. I’m not a method actor but on days when you’re playing material with really high stakes it can be extremely challenging, particularly on a show like ours where the tension is constant and unrelenting. On those days, I tend to retreat a bit and stay quiet - it’s a form of self-preservation. I’m not very good at socializing when I’m carrying that kind of emotional weight, and I need at least an hour after wrap to properly switch off. When you have to access darker places in your mind and body, the line between imagination and reality can start to blur; your nervous system believes it’s real. Shaking that off isn’t always easy, and giving myself space is the healthiest way I’ve found to do it.

Working on a series built so tightly around suspense, what has it taught you about restraint and about stillness?

So much of acting is about what isn’t said, and on Hijack in particular that’s how we build tension. The silences, the stillness, the things the audience senses rather than hears are often doing the heaviest lifting. A large part of my storyline takes place with me completely alone, which has been a fascinating challenge - exploring how to tell a story with little to no dialogue. Everything hinges on Marsha’s internal monologue: what she’s thinking, what she’s suppressing, what she’s fighting to hold together. It’s a very internal, psychological kind of storytelling, and that restraint is what makes it so powerful.

Christine Adams wears earrings by XHENXHEN JEWELLERY, a coat by JENNIFER MILLEDER, a blouse and skirt by FALVAON, and shoes by ROGER VIVIER

Christine Adams wears earrings by XHENXHENJEWELLERY, a necklace and bracelet by CAPSULE ELEVEN, fur by SANNA PATRICK, a coat by RAY CHU, a dress by THEO, and shoes by TABITHA RINGWOOD

When you first read the scripts for season 2, what was the moment or scene that made you feel, “I want to be inside this story again”?

I think where Marsha’s storyline goes will come as a big surprise to the audience. She’s transformed significantly from who we saw in season one, and stepping into this new dimension of her character was incredibly exciting. The writers were keen to continue exploring the emotional bond between Sam and Marsha, but this season they push that bond to its absolute limits, testing it in ways that are intense, unpredictable, and deeply human. It’s a rare opportunity to navigate a character who’s evolving under such pressure, and the journey has been as thrilling to play as it is to watch unfold.

Looking back across your career, which project quietly shifted the way you see yourself as an actress?

I’m not sure if it was quiet, but living and working in LA for 15 years taught me an enormous amount about being an actress. I had to walk into a lot of very intimidating rooms and prove myself again and again, which wasn’t always easy, but it forced me to really understand the kind of actress I am. It taught me that acting isn’t just about technique, it’s about drawing people in, connecting with them, and giving them a reason to root for your character. That insight has stayed with me and continues to shape the way I approach every role

The industry often tries to define identity for women on screen. How have you navigated your own path through those expectations?

When I started out, I always wanted to play lawyers and doctors - roles that simply weren’t available to actresses of colour in England at the time. Moving to America opened up opportunities to be cast in more aspirational, multidimensional roles, which was incredibly liberating. Early on, it was frustrating to read scripts where the female characters were one-dimensional or thankless; there was so little depth or agency. Now, as I’ve gotten older and moved into a different age bracket, I’m seeing material become far more interesting and layered, which is something I’m really happy about. It feels like there’s finally room to play women with real complexity, nuance, and power.

Quick fire no commas
a scene from Hijack that stays with you

In Season 2 there’s a sequence towards the very end of the series that was incredibly complicated to shoot. It demanded precise timing and coordination to make everything work perfectly which made those days simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. Those are the kinds of shoots that really test you as an actor and as a team. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together on screen.

a word that captures season 2

Nail-biting

a feeling you hope the audience carries away

The Human spirit can overcome anything.

If you could speak directly to viewers just before they press play on season 2, what would you want them to pay attention to?

Be prepared for twists and turns, nothing is ever quite as it first seems.

Christine Adams wears a dress by JENNIFER MILLEDER

photographer + creative direction   IAN KOBYLANSKI
styling   BORNA PRIKASKI
styling assistant   ANNIE GRACE
set design   LOUIS TOLEDO
make up   HOWARD K.C.X.
make up assistant   JADE MISTRY
hair   ABI IGZ
lighting assistants   NICOLA SCLANO & ADAM WEIR

copyright LE MILE Magazine / Ian Kobylanski

MIA FINEMAN *Casa Susanna

MIA FINEMAN
Casa Susanna - 160 Ways to Be Seen Without Being Seen

written + interview AMANDA MORTENSON

These days, visibility begins with a screen, curated, uploaded, compressed into metrics before it even has a chance to breathe. The Casa Susanna photographs were born in another tempo. Their images were exchanged by hand, slipped into envelopes, held close. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Casa Susanna exhibition opens a door into this quieter visual world, one that sustained a cross-dressing community in 1960s New York long before hashtags or timelines existed.

In that era of strictly defined gender roles, Susanna Valenti and her wife Marie Tornell operated two small resorts in the Catskills. They were modest in size but expansive in purpose—safe havens where guests could arrive as themselves and leave the constraints of their day-to-day identities behind. The gatherings at these resorts and in New York City became a ritual. Cameras were constant companions, tools for recording and for becoming. Each photograph affirmed an identity, captured a gesture, and expanded a shared archive of self-expression.

Andrea Susan (American, 1939–2015)
Donna (Buff/Cynthia) in a navy dress in Susanna and Marie’s, New York City apartment, 1960s, Chromogenic print, 12.9 x 9 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds generously donated by Martha LA McCain, 2015 / Photo ©AGO

The exhibition gathers around 160 works from three major collections—photographs from the Art Gallery of Ontario, from artist Cindy Sherman’s personal holdings, and from The Met’s own collection, gifted by Betsy Wollheim, whose father was part of the Casa Susanna circle. The selection includes chromogenic prints, silver gelatin prints, and Polaroids—the latter a breakthrough technology for this community. Polaroid cameras delivered instant results without the risk of sending film to a commercial lab, a critical safeguard in a time when gender nonconformity could lead to blackmail, arrest, or worse. In their own time, members of Casa Susanna used the term “transvestite” to describe themselves, a word now widely recognized as pejorative. The exhibition uses “cross-dressing” to describe the practice of wearing clothing associated with another gender than one’s daily presentation. The photographs show the kind of femininity these guests aspired to inhabit.

The ideal was deliberate, even nostalgic—rooted in the postwar archetypes found in McCall’s and Ladies’ Home Journal: the well-put-together neighbor, the serene housewife, the respectable matron. In the photographs, every detail—hemline, handbag, hairstyle—becomes a note in the visual composition of that identity. Poses are practiced and drawn from the vocabulary of mid-century magazine photography, with a hand on the hip and a pointed foot, knees together when seated, and legs crossed at the ankle. The images carry tenderness and defiance, each present in equal measure.They resist cultural norms simply by existing, but they also protect and nurture “the girl within,” as Susanna herself described it. In this way, the lens becomes a co-conspirator, a mirror that reflects back the self each sitter longed to see.

The exhibition extends beyond the walls to include issues of Transvestia, the underground magazine that served as a lifeline for the community. Published six times a year and mailed directly to subscribers, it offered autobiographical essays, style advice, and fiction alongside readers’ photographs. Functioning as a pre-digital social network, it stitched together a far-flung group into something resembling a public, though one that operated entirely out of sight. The curatorial approach, led at The Met by Mia Fineman, preserves this intimacy. Many of the photographs are small, close to the dimensions of a smartphone screen, but their presence in the gallery invites a different kind of looking. Here, scale becomes personal, measured in proximity. Standing before them, the viewer is drawn into the same hand-held space their original owners occupied, the same vantage from which they were once studied, treasured, and shared.
The quietest details in the exhibition are often the most affecting. A snapshot of Sheila and her wife Avis in matching dresses, tailored so they could wear them together; the patterned wallpaper behind Susanna and Felicity as they laugh in a summer kitchen. These are lived moments, captured for the circle that understood them, free from the staging of outside expectations.

Casa Susanna refrains from universalizing its story, presenting its subjects outside the frame of contemporary trans narratives. It invites visitors to encounter a community as it saw itself, through the images it made for its own eyes. In doing so, it restores a fragment of history to the broader photographic canon, reminding us that some of the most radical acts of visibility happen far from public view.

“One of the most important things you cannot experience when viewing images on a screen is a true sense of scale — the physical size of a picture in relation to your own body.”

Mia Fineman speaks with LE MILE
for Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

Unknown
Gloria in Susanna and Marie’s New York City apartment, 1960s, Chromogenic print, 8.9 x 9 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds generously donated by Martha LA McCain, 2015 / Photo ©AGO

Andrea Susan (American, 1939–2015)
Photo shoot with Lili, Wilma, and friends, Casa Susanna, Hunter, NY, 1964–1968, Chromogenic print 8.4 x 10.8 cm

Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds generously donated by Martha LA McCain, 2015 / Photo ©AGO

Amanda Mortenson
These days, visibility begins with a screen. They´re curated, uploaded, compressed into metrics before it even has a chance to breathe. But the Casa Susanna images were never chasing an audience. How does their analog quietness speak to us now, in this overstimulated world?

Mia Fineman
In our current moment, when our visual lives are so completely dominated by screens, I think people — or at least some people — are beginning to crave firsthand encounters with the physicality of images, whether on the pages of books or magazines or on the walls of a museum or gallery. One of the most important things you cannot experience when viewing images on a screen is a true sense of scale — the physical size of a picture in relation to your own body. Ironically, these twentieth-century snapshots are almost exactly the size of a phone screen, created to be held in the palm of your hand.

Photography has always had a thing for secrets. When you first saw the Casa Susanna images, what did they whisper to you before you even read a word?

The first thing I noticed was that these are images of men wearing women’s clothes, makeup, and wigs — yet they are not drag queens. They are not performing an exaggerated, theatrical version of femininity. Rather, they are making a deliberate effort to appear authentic, to “pass” as ordinary women.
In their time, members of the Casa Susanna circle described themselves as “transvestites,” a term now widely considered pejorative. In the exhibition, we use the preferred term “cross-dressing” to describe the practice of wearing clothing typically associated with a gender different from one’s daily presentation.

What kind of woman did these guests want to become and what kind of woman did the camera let them be?

Their ideal of femininity was highly conventional, even somewhat old-fashioned for the time, rooted in the gender stereotypes of the 1940s and 1950s found in magazines such as McCall’s and Ladies’ Home Journal. The women they aspired to emulate were well-put-together and ladylike — the neighbor, the housewife, the respectable matron. The camera became a tool for creating and expressing these identities, drawing on the visual language of magazine photography and family snapshots. Posing was deliberate: when standing, often with a hand on one hip and one foot pointed and extended; when seated, with knees together and legs crossed at the ankles.

Unknown
Susanna standing by the mirror in her New York City apartment, 1960 – 1963 Color vintage print, 23 x 19 cm

Collection of Cindy Sherman / Photo ©AGO

“These are images of men wearing women’s clothes, makeup, and wigs — yet they are not drag queens. They are not performing an exaggerated, theatrical version of femininity.”

Mia Fineman speaks with LE MILE
for Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

In a way, the lens was a co-conspirator, do you think these photographs were acts of resistance, or rituals of tenderness? Maybe both?

For those in the circle, seeing photographs of themselves dressed en femme was a profoundly powerful and affirming experience. The images carry a tenderness alongside a quiet resistance to prevailing cultural norms and expectations. Above all, the photographs functioned like magic mirrors, reflecting back an internalized self-image — what Susanna called “the girl within.”

How do you curate something that was never meant to be seen in a museum?

It’s not unusual. Most photographs, from the 19th century up through the present, were never meant to be seen in museums. That’s what makes the photographic medium so interesting—it’s capacious and touches on every aspect of our lives..


Let’s talk about the Polaroid. What role did that specific technology play in shaping the identities we see in these frames?

During this period, gender-nonconforming people faced intense persecution and lived with the constant threat of blackmail and denunciation. Sending film to a commercial lab carried a significant risk. A few members of the community learned to process film themselves, but the arrival of the Polaroid camera in the late 1950s proved especially popular among cross-dressers, offering both privacy and instant results.


Unknown
Lili on the diving board, Casa Susanna, Hunter, NY, September 1966, Chromogenic print, 12.8 x 9 cm

Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds generously donated by Martha LA McCain, 2015 / Photo ©AGO

Unknown
Sheila and her GG Clarissa and friend, reading Transvestia, 1967, Gelatin silver print, 8.4 x 10.9 cm

Collection of Betsy Wollheim / Photo ©AGO

What’s the quietest detail in the entire exhibition? The one that most people miss, but you still think about on your way home?

I was surprised to learn that several members of the Casa Susanna circle had wives or girlfriends who accompanied them to cross-dressing gatherings. There is a small photograph in the exhibition of a cross-dresser named Sheila with her wife Avis, standing together in front of a fireplace in matching patterned dresses. They had these dresses tailored so they could wear them together. Avis wrote a column for their community magazine recounting her struggle to understand Sheila’s cross-dressing, with concerns ranging from anxiety about being outed to frustration over sharing the family clothing budget.

There’s something almost radical about someone printing their truth in black-and-white and mailing it across the country, long before Likes existed. These photos were passed hand to hand, folded, hidden, held close. What does "Offline" mean inside a show like Casa Susanna, where the act of sharing was slower, riskier, and maybe more intimate?

The members of this community exchanged pictures at gatherings and sent them by mail. They also published them in an underground magazine called Transvestia. It put out six issues a year, distributed to subscribers by mail. It was a community magazine in the sense that nearly all the content was created by its readers. In effect, the magazine functioned as a social network that helped them ease their loneliness and connect with others.

If you had to choose one photograph from the show to hang in your home — not as a curator, but as Mia — which one would it be and why?

There’s a photograph of Susanna and Felicity (whose public identity was John Miller, the brother of photographer Lee Miller) joking around in the kitchen at one of the resorts. I love how it shows Susanna’s sassiness and warmth, and the playful connection between the two women. I also love their tailored summer dresses and the vintage scenic wallpaper behind them. I’d be happy to look at this picture every morning.

header image
Unknown
Susanna, Marilyn, and Marianne, Hunter, NY, 1963
Gelatin silver print, 9 x 12.5 cm
Collection of Cindy Sherman
Photo ©AGO

MANUEL LICCI *On Sport, Community and Wellness Culture

MANUEL LICCI
Body In Motion

interview + written CHIDOZIE OBASI

There’s no denying the influence fitness and sport have had through centuries and, more specifically, on the creative industry at large. Since the dawn of the Olympics and across further key tournaments across a wealth of disciplines, sports have been permeating the mainstream consciousness, with veterans and newcomers alike embracing and reacting positively to this acceptance of genre.

Manuel wears a cardigan by BRIONI, pants by FIVEFOURFIVE and shoes by SEBAGO

On the fashion spectrum, lines are becoming increasingly blurred between function and tailoring, tackling this field with a packed punch of offerings that infuse elements of wear-anywhere practicality with dashes of winsome elegance and breezy structure. With this in mind, LE MILE’s Fashion Director meets Manuel Licci — Sport and Lifestyle Director at Milan’s media agency Attila&Co — who unpacks the core values of his practice, the importance of community and future hopes. You’re welcome.

Manuel wears a T-shirt, pants and hat by FIVEFOURFIVE, jewellery by LAG WORLD and underwear by CALVIN KLEIN

Chidozie Obasi
First things first: could you introduce yourself to us?

Manuel Licci
I’m Manuel Licci, PR Director for the Sport and Lifestyle division at Attila&Co: a communications agency founded in Milan in the early 1980s. In my daily practice, I develop strategies for brands that operate mainly in the world of wellness and lifestyle. One of my goals is to create authentic connections between companies, talent, medi and communities, promoting stories of inspiration and rich in storytelling.

What’s your earliest memory of sport?

I’ve always been a sportsman, but I’ve never been a professional. I started playing sports at around the age of ten, when I tested swimming (almost forced by my mother, I must admit), then I moved on to basketball and finally soccer, where I played as a goalkeeper in my local team until I was twenty. When I started university and found myself lacking new stimuli, thus I decided to give up competitive sport, but I continued to play in various tournaments for several years. During that period, I also began training at the gym. Since then, sport has become part of my daily routine and has never left it, as I see it a source of energy, discipline, and balance. 

When did you realise that you wanted to pursue this practice as a full-time job?

When I started working in communications, I immediately realized that the world of sports was the field in which I could best express myself, even at a time when terms such as “hybrid athlete” or “running club” were not yet in use as they are today. After the Covid period, in particular, sport has become essential for many, not only as physical activity but also as a moment of socialising, mental well-being and connection with others, reaching an even more diverse audience in terms of age and gender. Sport unites community, values and storytelling: three elements that represent me perfectly.

And how has your journey been so far?

It’s been an intense yet stimulating journey, full of important connections that have enriched me both personally and professionally. I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with different brands and people, tackling projects that have always pushed me to grow, innovate, and listen to those who work with me, consolidating my belief that sport is a powerful tool for communicating authentic values. 

Sport – and its wealth of facets - has had a significant yet impactful resonance over centuries: from the Greek epoch until the modern day. In your opinion, what have been the most drastic changes (and perhaps the challenges) in how people approach the training side of it, over the years?

n recent years, training has become more conscious, personalised and accessible. Technology has introduced new tools, from wearables to gamification, but the main challenge remains finding a balance between performance, well-being and enjoyment. Today, people are looking for meaningful experiences that connect body and mind, rather than mere results.

Manuel wears a sweater and T-shirt by CANALI and pants by QUARTO ATTO

What values do you look for when picking an athlete to partner with some of the brands in your agency portfolio?

Authenticity, consistency and the ability to communicate real values. An athlete or creator is a strategic partner: they must be credible, share the brand’s vision and be able to build a genuine relationship with their community. Talent is important, but integrity and storytelling are even more so. Only then can collaborations become true engagement experiences.

How important is team building and community in your day-to-day approach?

Fundamental. A good strategy always comes from discussion. At Attila&Co, we have always placed great value on teamwork and community relations. After all, sport is always a team effort: no project can truly succeed without a strong ecosystem to support it.

And tell me: are there any downsides or setbacks you encounter, in this field and in your routine?

As in any dynamic sector, there are challenges: tight deadlines, the need to adapt quickly to change and managing expectations. But these are aspects that fuel creativity and push you to find new solutions. It’s a fast-paced but extremely engrossing environment, where every obstacle can be turned into an opportunity.

Is mental health a theme that is dealt with in the sports sector, or would you argue that it is still a marginalised topic?

Mental health is much more central today than in the past, but it remains an issue where there’s still a long way to go. Fans and professionals are increasingly aware of the importance of psychological well-being. As communicators, we have a responsibility to give space to these conversations in a responsible manner, helping to create inclusive and supportive environments in equal measure.

What's next for you? Future hopes?

My hope is that the social trend that today involves Gen Z and millennials towards a healthy and sporty lifestyle will not fade away, but become a constant source of inspiration, especially in these turbulent times. I would like to see this trend turn into a real movement, capable of motivating more and more people to take care of themselves through sport and wellness. Personally, I want to continue to grow both as an amateur athlete and as a communications professional, developing projects that create credible connections between brands, athletes and communities and help to spread an inclusive, authentic and wellness-oriented sports culture. In my own small way, I want to help build a sports culture that truly inspires people, every day.

Manuel wears a total look by LORO PIANA

credits
all Images (c) LE MILE / Antonio Crotti

seen ANTONIO CROTTI
fashion director + stylist CHIDOZIE OBASI
head of production JESSICA LOVATO
fashion coordinators ALBERTO MICHISANTI + EDWARD PUSCA
make up KIM GUTIERREZ via STUDIO REPÒSSI
hair ANGELICA DAVANZO via BLEND MANAGEMENT
model MANUEL LICCI
production assistant LORIS VOTTERO
fashion assistants ALESSANDRO GIANESIN + ANGELINA PERSIANI + CHARISSE ORDINARIA + VALENTINA INVERARDI

BEN RADCLIFFE *The Refusal to Stay in One Role

BEN RADCLIFFE

—Rebellion, Reflection, and the Roles in Between

interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Ben Radcliffe drifts through interviews with the ease of someone leafing through a second-hand bookstore, picking up fragments and letting them fall. He talks about coffee as a cosmic mistake, acting as weather gone wrong, rebellion as simply switching the screen off.

Ben Radcliffe wears VALENTINO

His filmography holds soldiers, pickpockets, scandal shadows, lovers of revolutions — a drawer of misplaced identities. He remembers costumes that ignored the climate, cooling vests that worked like secret armor, rehearsed lines stripped of theatrics. What follows is Ben in his own rhythm — fragments, reflections, and the kind of unfinished lines that linger.

Ben Radcliffe wears a shirt and coat by SANDRO, a suit by THE FRANKIE SHOP, and a ring by TOM WOOD

Ben Radcliffe wears a shirt and coat by SANDRO, a suit by THE FRANKIE SHOP, sunglasses by PALOCERAS, and a ring by TOM WOOD

Alban E. Smajli
When was the last time you went missing on purpose, switched everything off, and didn’t tell anyone where you were going? And what waited for you on the other side?

Ben Radcliffe
I do this a lot. I think sport and exercise are a great reason to switch off and escape.

There’s something almost illegal about being offline today, especially in your world. What’s your version of rebellion?

I don’t see it that way. I think it’s very easy to switch off, especially social media. If I catch myself in a long scroll session, I will usually make up for it by doing something productive.
And my favourite rebellion? Les Misérables. Or Hamilton. Big fan of revolutions you can sing along to. 

You’re sitting at a café and there´s no script, no screen, or role to play. Just you and a black coffee. Where does your mind wander?

Wondering, “Why did I order a black coffee?”


What part of fashion feels like acting and what part of acting feels like dressing up?

If I wear something a bit out there, then it feels a bit like acting. Which is good because it’s fun to try something new. But if you feel inauthentic, then it’s probably not the vibe.

Acting on set mostly means wearing clothes wildly inappropriate for the weather. Five layers of sheepskin in the middle of summer, or just a thin shirt and trousers when it’s -2°C and raining (like one particular scene in Fackham Hall). On Masters of the Air we actually wore cooling vests inside the planes. The costumes were very accurate, designed for -40°C at 30,000 feet, but of course we were inside a sound stage. Without the vest pumping cold water around your body, you’d basically cook. 

Ben Radcliffe wears a full look by TOD’S, shoes and a bag by TOD’S, and a ring by TOM WOOD

behind the scene

Ben wears a full look by TOD’S, and sunglasses by PALOCERAS

You’ve played a pickpocket, a soldier, a scandal shadow, who are you when the cameras stop rolling and there’s just your reflection in a train window?

All of the above.

You lead in Fackham Hall. Let’s say they also let you rewrite the ending, everyone waiting for you to decide what happens next. How does it all fall apart or come together?

It all comes together very nicely. I think you should watch and find out. If I was in the writers’ room, I would sit in the corner and let the geniuses continue their good work. 

 Which three films do you always come back to, without knowing exactly why?

I’m really drawn to coming-of-age movies. Billy Elliot and The Way Way Back are some favourites that I can watch over and over.

When social media gets overwhelming and the silence starts to feel sharp, do you ever retreat into something paper — a book, a magazine, anything that just lets you disappear for a while?

I’ve always been a very outdoorsy type, so I never used to be a big reader. Although I’ve definitely been getting into it more in my 20s. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts, that way I can enjoy them on the move.

What’s your weirdest ritual on set?

I don’t really have any strange rituals, but I’ve witnessed many. I’ve listened to some outrageous warm-ups from nearby trailers and many actors doing interesting things to get into character. I’m pretty basic. I make sure I know all my lines and then I say them.

Are there parts of your career so far that feel like dreams you haven’t quite woken up from?

Working alongside John Travolta. He is a personal hero of mine and someone I grew up admiring. Performing alongside him felt very surreal.

 What’s something you’ve never said in an interview but kind of hope someone would ask you one day?

“Ben, would you like me to introduce you to Sabrina Carpenter?” Here is her number…

Ben wears a vest by GEORDIE CAMPBELL, trousers by DANIEL W. FLETCHER, a jacket by DSQUARED2, and shoes by ADIDAS

Ben Radcliffe wears a full look by DOLCE & GABBANA and shoes by G.H. BASS

art direction + seen   ANTONIO EUGENIO
photo assistant   FENN REEVES
styled   KATIE DULIEU
assisted   MARTHA RALPH-HARDING & CECILIA COLLINS
grooming   CHARLIE CULLEN at Forward Artists using 111SKIN
film   SOFIA IVANOVA
talent   BEN RADCLIFFE
thanks   Caroline Fergusson and Grace Yeoman at Pinnacle PR

copyright LE MILE Magazine / Antonio Eugenio 2025

REDA ELAZOUAR *The Rhythm of The Family Plan 2

A New Pulse
Reda Elazouar on Omar, Prep and The Family Plan 2

interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Reda Elazouar speaks about The Family Plan 2 with the kind of clarity that comes from living deep inside a role. Omar began for him in a stretch of intense weeks marked by parkour sessions, stunt rehearsals, boxing drills and a steady routine that shaped his body and focus.

REDA ELAZOUAR wears full look AMIRI

The preparation built a discipline that stayed long after production wrapped; he still trains with the same consistency, still carries the structure that the job demanded. He joined a cast that already moved as a unit, and the film’s chronological shoot gave him a rare advantage, the story introduced Omar at the same pace Reda met his scene partners. The early days on set shaped the tone for everything that followed. Wahlberg’s guarded intensity, Monaghan’s warmth, the fast rhythm of the action scenes — all of it created a space where Omar’s openness grew naturally. He talks about those first scenes in London with a kind of ease, as if the city itself kept feeding the role through every corner they filmed in.

REDA ELAZOUAR wears full look by TODD SNYDER, belt by FRAME, boots by JIMMY CHOO, and a ring by MEJURI

Alban E. Smajli
When you think back to The Family Plan 2, what’s the scene that still lives in your body?

Reda Elazouar
I would have to say my introduction scene when I come out of the shower because the amount of discipline that it took to train literally changed the way I live my life to this day. In order to keep up with the amount of exercise that I was doing, after I wrapped I continued with the workouts and so I came away from the job a lot more disciplined than I was previously. The prep for that scene also involved eating much healthier than I was before so I stuck to that too, which definitely makes me live in my body differently.

How does it feel to step into a franchise where the chaos is already in full motion?

Amazing! I got to jump straight in the deep end and straight off some buildings. The first film did a great job at explaining who Dan was and the lie that his family had believed for so long but in this one, we get to the action pretty quick. Because of how familiar everyone was with each other already, it was super easy to slot in and be a part of that family dynamic. 

Working with Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan and Kit Harington — what dynamics emerged between the four of you that shaped your performance?

Since we filmed it pretty much chronologically, I didn’t know any of the cast well when I filmed my first few scenes. So our characters were getting to know each other at the same time that we were which was a welcome ‘art imitating life’ moment. That dynamic worked best with Mark as Dan had to be distrusting of Omar but as the film goes on they get closer. Michelle is so maternal as well in real life and in character so that helped make everything feel real. Unfortunately, the only scene I was in with Kit is when he’s chasing after the family so we didn't get to interact much which probably worked for the character dynamic that we had to have. Overall, though, the way all the cast were so welcoming helped me have a great time on this one.

What did this film demand from you that earlier roles didn’t touch?

A lot of physical prep in a short time. I’ve never had to physically prepare for a role before but the moment I got the call up I went straight into parkour, stunts and boxing training. I had amazing teachers in Tom Cotton and Kyle Freemantle who taught me everything I needed to know in order to look like I was a parkour professional. In the times I wasn’t training with the, I had gym sessions with Simon Waterson and Tim Blakeley to get me prepped for my first scene as Omar when he steps out of the shower. Since I had only 5 weeks to get in shape, all my time outside of these sessions were either spent walking to get my steps in or resting for the next workout. Even though it was a big task, I felt very privileged to work with amazing professionals who made the experience so smooth and enjoyable. 

After the production wrapped, what stayed with you the longest?

How thankful I was to be on a project of this size with actors that I had watched growing up. That feeling still hasn’t gone away and was there every day that I was filming. We filmed in such iconic locations around London and since I live here and walk around those locations often, I am constantly reminded of my experience.

Describe the moment you realized your character had a completely different rhythm from everyone else on screen.

It was actually in the first scene I shot which was in the Chinese restaurant. Omar first pumps the air and is happy when Dan says “you’re in” to which he replies “in what?”. That part made me realise how oblivious he was and how he doesn't really understand exactly what's going on. It’s one of my favourite moments in the film as the audience knows that type of craziness the Morgans get up to while Omar has no clue!

When you look at scripts now, what makes you pause — in a good way?

If I’m genuinely interested in the pathology of the character and start wondering why they’re doing what they’re doing then I know I’m reading a great script. Also, most of the time that I'm reading scripts is because I'm auditioning for the project and there's a certain feeling between nervousness and excitement that makes me feel like I'm reading a great script that I'd love to be unpack and work on.

Is there a role, a genre or a mood you’re currently orbiting that you haven’t played yet?

There's a few things that I can think of. I haven't yet had the opportunity of leading a film/show which I'd love to do whenever the time is right. I also would like to dive into theatre and back on the screen side, I would love to do a mockumentary. I've been writing one on-and-off for a while where I would play the three central characters and I think that could be a great challenge and also lots of fun.

What question do you ask yourself before stepping into a new character?

I’m always curious to find out what is intrinsically different about the character and I. At what point was there fork in the road where the character went one way and I went another. In that, I also learn the ways in which the character and I are similar and to what degree. So I guess to boil it down to a question it would be: “what would've had to happen in my life for me to become you?”.

Away from set life, what keeps your imagination awake?

I take acting classes in between working and mainly do improvisation with a company called Talking People. Every few months we do an improv show which helps keep me on my toes. It’s a place for me where I can flow and do some theatre in between screen roles. I also train in kickboxing which I’ve come to learn is a physical form of chess. It’s nice to be able to have a hobby in something that has completely different stakes from acting and keeps me fit and disciplined too. It also reminds me of a saying I heard once: “if you want to become a better actor, read a book on kayaking”. The things away from acting that keep my imagination alive will in turn help me become better at what I do.

Is there a piece of advice someone gave you that returns at unexpected moments?

‘Slow down’. When I first started training in theatre, I didn’t really pay attention to how fast I spoke and so when I’d rehearse I would just speed through the lines. That was most likely because I was so nervous that I wanted to finish as quick as possible but I remember my teacher Robbi telling me time and time again to slow down and make sure that I was heard. That was a tough task as when you have that adrenaline hit of being on stage, everything speeds by. But that piece of advice has helped me in all aspects of my life to just slow down and take the moment in.

If your younger self could watch you working today, what do you think he’d be most excited about?

I think the mere fact that I actually started working as an actor would be enough for my younger self to smile ear-to-ear. I was told from young how hard it was to get started in this industry, especially coming from a working-class background with no one around me that worked in the creative field. On top of that, being able to work with people in front and behind the camera that worked on projects that I grew up watching is something younger Reda would give me some cool points for.

credits
talent REDA ELAZOUAR
thanks to AMBER MOTTO / AMPR

seen DAVID REISS
styled HOLLY WHITE
grooming CHARLIE CULLEN

TOM CULLEN *Trespasses, Michael, and New Role Insights

TOM CULLEN Returns Home

—and Opens the Door to Something Wilder



interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Tom Cullen carries a certain voltage—quiet, direct, and sharper than he lets on.

In Trespasses, he steps into a story simmering with political heat and impossible desire, playing Michael, a Protestant barrister who keeps choosing love in a world that keeps telling him not to. Cullen treats the role less like a performance and more like a possession, letting the character seep in through dialect, costume, and the rugged Northern Irish landscape that became its own scene partner.

Off-screen, he’s in a different chapter: new fatherhood, a move back to Wales, a creative instinct shifting toward the messy, human corners of storytelling. He talks about vulnerability like it’s a craft, about giving editors “colors to paint with,” and about the artists who shaped his eye. We caught up with him to talk Trespasses, tenderness, and the strange freedom that arrives when life rearranges you.

Tom Cullen wears a total look by PAUL SMITH

Tom Cullen wears JOHNLAWRENCESULLIVAN

Tom Cullen wears a jumper by JOHNSTONS OF ELGIN, a coat by WAX LONDON, trousers by 8ON8, and shoes by G.H. BASS

Alban E. Smajli
Trespasses explores intimacy and fracture within political tension. What drew you most to this story, and how did it live inside you while filming?

Tom Cullen
I was drawn to the powerful messaging that I derived from it. My character Michael, a controversial Protestant barrister, who defends young catholic boys against police brutality, says “We must have the bravery to choose freedom over fear”. It’s a message that is so simple, but when you dig into it, it’s surprisingly profound. Cushla and Michael are two people that choose to not be swept up in the narratives that surround them and they choose love instead, even at the risk of their lives. It’s very easy to get lost in these narratives and so it’s so important for us to take stock and not allow hate to win. It sounds altruistic and pious, but it’s true. Just look at the narratives today that are being pushed down our throats by those in power just to divide us. And it’s working. But we must choose freedom over fear.

How did you approach creating space for tenderness within a narrative so marked by conflict?

My partner, Alison Sudol, reads everything I do. She is a wise sage. She read Trespasses and said that Michael and Cushla were like two dandelions growing out of the smallest crack in a slab of concrete. I really attached myself to that image.

There is a lot on the page working against Michael. He is the hardest part I’ve ever had to play for that reason. You have to love him but there is also something unreachable about him. So the love and tenderness between Michael and Cushla was integral for the show to work. I just tried to lean into Michael’s vulnerability as much as possible. But it is his passion for life is that really opened the door to Michael and Cushla’s relationship. They find in each other a passion for life and that chemistry was very much found in my working relationship with Lola. Lola is mesmeric. They are fiercely intelligent, talented and compassionate human being. I just loved working with Lola and all the things that Michael loved in Cushla are the same things I loved in Lola. Lola’s passion for life is thrilling to be around. 

When you play a character shaped by history and division, where do you begin—voice, silence, or memory?

Obviously it’s a historical context which these characters exist in but the story itself is fictional and the characters are too. So while rooted in a history that I have quite a good understanding of - the majority of my work was character work - and thankfully I had an amazing resource to pull from with Louise Kennedy’s novel. 

A big part of my process as an actor - and I’ve got to be careful not to sound too pretentious here - is to just let the character flow through me. I have to step out of the way and just let who it is flow through. This is a slow, gentle process that comes through prep. Starting with dialect, costume, makeup…all these things help build the character from the source material and I just have to get the hell out of the way.

I can’t watch any playback when I’m working because in my head, I look like a totally different person. But when if I watch playback, I just see myself in the shot, it’s so weird and it can shatter the illusion in my head. It’s like one big episode of quantum leap!

What did the landscape of Northern Ireland give you that the script couldn’t?

It’s beautiful. And so is Belfast. The landscape itself is a character in the show.
Reminds me a lot of where I grew up in Wales. Something so calming about the rugged permanence of that landscape. It’s humbling in the best way. A reminder of your insignificance. 

Tom Cullen wears cardigan by IODELE, ants and T-shirt by A DAYS MARCH

Tom Cullen wears jumpers by JOHNSTONS OF ELGIN and pants by UNIQLO

In Trespasses, love feels both sacred and dangerous. How did you hold that balance?

Isn’t all love sacred and dangerous? Love is inherently dangerous. To love someone is a choice, but it’s a choice of pain, because all love will end one way or another. That’s what makes it the most beautiful, intoxicating and human choice to make; to make oneself vulnerable, to give yourself to another, is the single most profoundly brave action a human can make. We choose to love despite the pain. We choose to love in the face of grief. To love, is to accept death, right?

As an actor who also directs, how does awareness of framing and rhythm shift your process in front of the camera?

Directing and editing specifically, was the single most liberating lesson I’ve had when it comes to acting. I was lucky enough to have two brilliant actors in my first feature, Tatiana Maslany and Jay Duplass. The spectrum of performance I had to play with in the edit made my job as a director so easy. Since then I’ve enjoyed the freedom of delivering colours for the editor to paint with. It’s freeing and allows the best, most exciting work to happen. Where you’re not quite sure what will happen next. My favourite artists all exist between the lines of brilliance and disaster. I’m trying to exist there as much as possible. Let go of the control and the ego. Let it flow! 

What does this period of your career feel like—what’s anchoring you creatively right now?

Becoming a father has shattered any semblance of who I thought I was and in the vacuum left behind by sleepless nights, worry, nappy changes and the most powerful love. I have begun to reform myself as someone I like a lot more. It’s liberating to not give a toss about anything other than the very singular purpose of being a parent. Being a Dad is something I have always wanted but it’s changed me in a way that I didn’t expect.

You recently moved back to Wales—how does it feel being back in the place where your artistic instincts begin?

What a lovely question. I’d never thought about it like that. I’m reframing my move back home through the prism of this question and it’s making me quite emotional. We’re all on a journey, aren’t we? I’m not someone who really makes any plans. I turned 40 this year and that is something I never imagined happening, but having turned 40, I’m reflecting a lot. Reflecting on the journey. 

If I’d have told that little boy who grew up in the middle of nowhere Wales, making little plays for his mates on my council estate, that I'd be working as an actor one day…wow. What an incredible thing. 
And to move back to the place I had to leave to chase that dream? It’s immensely moving.

What do you find yourself searching for in the stories you choose now?

I’m interested in complexity. I want human stories, warts and all. Art should be an interrogation of the human experience. I’m inspired by filmmakers who capture the extraordinary in the quietest corners of life; Cassavetes, Joachim Trier, Chloe Zhao, Celine Sciamma, the Dardenne brothers. These are the filmmakers and the work I aspire to be a part of.

Quick fire, no commas:

A book that steadies you _____

Tom Cullen: Great Expectations 

A scene that keeps echoing _____

Tom Cullen: The dinner scene in A Woman Under influence 

A word you’re holding onto _____

Tom Cullen: Hiraeth

Tom Cullen wears a suit by JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN, a T-shirt by A DAYS MARCH, and shoes by G.H. BASS

seen   WILL ALDERSLEY
styled   JACK MILLS via WERTHERS REPRESENTS
grooming   TRAVIS NUNES
talent   TOM CULLEN via TELESCOPE AGENCY

copyright LE MILE Magazine / Will Aldersley 2025

PRISCILLA DELGADO *on Transformation and Life Beyond the Screen

PRISCILLA DELGADO
on What It Means to Vanish and Begin Again

interview MARK ASHKINS

At seven Priscilla Delgado was already reading minds on Spanish television, headlines still calling her the little girl as if time had frozen in reruns while she kept filming, kept slipping into roles that stick to the skin long after the lights go down.

The little girl is still there, shadowing the woman who walks through sets of Euphoria lit in electric haze, rewriting herself in ways impossible to chart, transformations that accumulate one frame after another. On another project the orange jumpsuit clicks into place and suddenly the story is alive, the uniform shaping the body, escape rehearsed on rooftops with helicopters hovering, details carried into sleep, details returning in dreams.

Priscilla Delgado wears VERSACE

“Life gave me the chance to start my career at a very early age, and I haven’t stopped working since the day it began.”

Priscilla Delgado speaks with Mark Ashkins
for LE MILE FW25 - OFFLINE Edition

watch film

She remembers the first time a stranger renamed her in an ice cream shop, the baptism of being addressed as someone else, the odd thrill of identity folded back into fiction.

Characters sometimes stay lodged inside her, sneaking into gestures, contaminating her nights, refusing to leave with the costumes, reminding her that the boundary between role and person is porous, flimsy, optional. Scripts without punctuation, directors with too-perfect smiles, flags she reads instantly, warnings disguised as opportunities.
Offline she disappears into neutrality, outdoors where signal fades and thoughts scatter, into tasks that narrow her focus until flight mode feels like another form of presence. When the circus of productions pauses, she reaches for films waiting in the Criterion Collection or in her father’s private archive, unwatched reels stacked like maps of worlds she hasn’t entered yet. And always, there are the dogs. Coqui was the last, scooped from a roadside chinchorro in Puerto Rico between alcapurrias and a piña colada, carried into a new life within a week, another role cast, another story closed.

Priscilla Delgado wears a coat by DOBLAS and shoes by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN

Mark Ashkins
We googled you. Then we stopped. What’s one part of your life the internet keeps getting spectacularly wrong?

Priscilla Delgado
Life gave me the chance to start my career at a very early age, and I haven’t stopped working since the day it began. When I was just seven years old, I played a little girl with the superpower of reading people’s minds. That role became my first major appearance on Spanish television, and it’s one that people still remember to this day. There are still headlines that refer to me as “the little girl,” a reference I find both endearing and curious, especially considering I’ve grown into something much closer to a woman.

You just wrapped Euphoria. Were there tears? Blood? A new tattoo? What part of you got rewritten in all that neon fog?


Given the universe of Euphoria, all the possibilities mentioned are entirely plausible. It has definitely been a deeply transformative experience. I’m not sure which part of me may have been rewritten, but what I do know is that it has been fascinating to gain such a profound understanding of aspects previously unknown to me.

You’re in Virginia filming a Prison Break spin-off. Did you sneak out of set in an orange jumpsuit just to feel something? What’s your favourite kind of escape?

Everything finally came together the moment we were given the chance to try on our uniforms. After that, everything else began to take shape. My ideal escape would be running up to the rooftop and getting picked up by a helicopter.

What’s more terrifying: a script with no punctuation or a director with perfect teeth?


To me, they’re both clear red flags!

Priscilla Delgado wears a total look by ABRA

You’ve been acting since before the world fully digitised itself—do you remember the first time someone called you by a character’s name in public and you liked it?


Yes, I remember the first time it happened. It was in an ice cream shop. It felt like being baptized anew.

Is there a character you’ve played that still lingers in your laundry, in your soup, in the way you blink when no one’s watching?


I have to confess that this has happened to me. During an incredibly intense week of work, I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and found myself slipping into some of the mannerisms of the character I was portraying at the time. It was a terrifying moment because I always try to leave the character on set. But I suppose, as in this case, sometimes it’s inevitable.

How do you stay Offline without becoming invisible? Or is being invisible the goal now?

I really enjoy being in a neutral space and allowing myself to relax. For me, this neutral space is usually being outdoors in nature.

What’s your personal version of flight mode? A lake? A locked bathroom? The inside of your own head?

Being deeply focused on a task and not allowing any distractions. For me, being on set can be synonymous with being in flight mode, although theoretically, it could also be the opposite.

You’re juggling productions like a circus performer on a caffeine drip—do you ever feel like not being good at things for a minute?

All the time, I find myself unraveling the mysteries of the world. Meanwhile, I navigate this journey with respect and an open heart, embracing every lesson, while gently reminding myself to be kind and patient along the way.

When everything wraps, what’s the first thing you really do, once the Wi-Fi dies and the makeup wipes win?

I’ll probably lose myself in watching a film, choosing from the countless gems left unwatched in the Criterion Collection and from my father’s personal archive, which may be even more vast and treasure-filled, haha.

Tell us something you’re working on that has absolutely nothing to do with the industry. 


I strive, in my own way, to be of service to society, whether by contributing to causes that need support at any given moment. One of the things I enjoy most is rescuing street dogs or fostering them, giving them love, food, and warmth, and preparing them for their new forever homes. The most recent was Coqui, a little dog I found at a “chinchorro” in Salinas, Puerto Rico, when I stopped to enjoy some alcapurrias and a piña colada. We managed to find her a home in just one week!

Priscilla Delgado wears a total look by JULIE KEGELS

“For me, being on set can be synonymous with being in flight mode, although theoretically, it could also be the opposite.”

Priscilla Delgado speaks with Mark Ashkins
for LE MILE FW25 - OFFLINE Edition

seen + direction   PABLO MAS
styled   GONZALO ORUTÑO
art direction   MARTA OCHOA and YOSI NEGRIN
movement direction   MURIEL SEIQUER
make up   LUCAS MARGARIT
hair   TRINI ASTEASUAIN
production   SOFIA FRAMES
light   CLAUDIO OCA, CRISTIAN FENOLL + XAVIER BOUZAS
digital retouch   PABLO RIVERA

talent PRISCILLA DELGADO

Alla Kostromichova *In Her Element

IN HER ELEMENT
*Alla Kostromichova on Beauty and the Energy That Endures

interview + written SARA DOUEDARI

There is a certain intensity that follows her — not loud, but unmistakably present.

In conversation, she moves with the same awareness she brings on set: attentive, sincere, and luminous without effort. Alla Kostromichova has built a career on resilience, discipline, instinct — and a deep respect for the creative process. Here, she speaks about growth, purpose, and the rare alignment that occurs when the right people meet on set.

Alla wears a dress by DIEGO GULLIEN and shoes by EMPTY BEHAVIOR

“When I’m given real artistic freedom — not just showing garments, but becoming something — that’s when the magic happens.”

Alla Kostromichova speaks with Sara Douedari
for LE MILE .Digital

dress by DIEGO GULLIEN

lla wears a dress by R.L.E and shoes by EMPTY BEHAVIOR

Sara Douedari
How has growing up in Ukraine shaped the way you move through the fashion world?

Alla Kostromichova
I grew up in a small city on the Crimean seashore, in a 40-square-meter apartment with my parents and grandfather. I was born in the USSR and came of age in the 90s, when life was extremely difficult. There was uncertainty, chaos, and very little stability. That environment taught me to rely on myself early. It made me adaptable and alert — which is exactly what you need to survive in fashion.

We didn’t have fashion magazines then — only Burda or Make It Yourself, which people shared because they were impossible to find. I remember looking at those models like they were angels from another universe. I didn’t dare believe I could belong there. My father was a musician, sometimes he painted, and we always had music playing at home — Pavarotti, Joe Cocker — even if it was recorded in terrible quality. When he passed away, I was 13, and I started working during every school vacation. Hard work became part of me. So when I entered fashion and people complained about 14-hour days, I felt lucky — because I knew what real struggle looked like.
Growing up like that made me humble, hungry, appreciative, ambitious. And, yes — I wanted to prove something. To others. But also to myself..

What was the first moment you realized your career would truly become international?

The beginning of my career was mostly rejection. I had been seen by major agencies many times — and always heard no. I walked Armani in Milan, but nothing followed. I finished university with a degree in medical engineering, but I knew I couldn’t live a 9-to-5 lab life. Two weeks after graduation, I went to Paris — to a small, unknown agency. Months later, I was confirmed as a fit model at Givenchy. Riccardo Tisci was preparing a couture collection. I spent long days in the atelier, watching a collection being created from scratch. One day, I was standing there in a gown they were adjusting on me. The window behind me opened slightly and I saw the Eiffel Tower reflected in the mirror — and then it began to sparkle. My reflection and the tower side by side.

In that moment, a quiet voice inside me said: You did it. What changed was simple: I felt relief. Relief that I wouldn’t have to return to the uncertainty I came from. Relief that I could finally help my mother. Those were the two things that mattered most..

Fashion demands constant evolution. What has helped you stay resilient — and relevant?

I think there are several personalities inside me — and one of them is a wild, creative performer who comes alive on set. When I’m given real artistic freedom — not just showing garments, but becoming something — that’s when the magic happens. It’s an exchange of creative energy, and for me, that exchange is one of the core values of my life.

Not every model can bring that slightly strange, almost otherworldly, performative energy. But when I’m on set, I feel alive. People can sense that. Discipline, professionalism, and love for the craft matter — but that energy is what keeps me here. And I felt that deeply during the shoot with Stefan. At one moment, it was like we tuned into the same frequency — instantly. That alignment is rare, and you can see it in the images.

Alla wears a headpiece by JEROME BLIN, bottoms by WOLFORD, accessories by MEL + MARIE, and shoes by RAMI AL ALI

headpiece by JEROME BLIN

Through Ukraine’s Next Top Model, you became a mentor to new talent. How did teaching change you?

It changed me completely. We filmed seven seasons, and during that time I gained a large audience — with that comes responsibility. Around the same time, I opened my mother agency KModels. Teaching felt natural to me — as a child, I used to “play school” with my dolls.

Later, I started a summer model camp for teenage girls — not only to teach modeling skills, but to help them build self-esteem. Talking to them, supporting them — that opened a new part of me. It gave my career a deeper purpose. Unfortunately, the camp had to close during Covid, and the war ended it completely. But that experience made me stronger and more responsible — and it showed me the impact my voice can have.

Today, when you think about beauty, what matters more — image or presence?

Presence. Sincerity. Depth. We live in a world where content is everywhere. Beauty that is only visual doesn’t mean much anymore. What matters to me is the feeling behind it — a real connection.
In my agency, I see beauty in potential — in watching girls grow into strong, independent, self-aware women. In coaching, I see beauty when someone allows themselves to be authentic, vulnerable, real.

A truly beautiful person is someone who gives themselves the freedom to be sincere. Not perfect — sincere. Especially now, with AI and everything becoming more artificial, the value of real human presence has only grown.For me, the most beautiful thing is sincerity.

Alla wears a headpiece by SANDRINE BOURGMODISTE, a top by MAISON MOGHARAB, and shoes by RAMI AL ALI

talent ALLA KOSTROMICHOVA

all Images (c) LE MILE / Stefan Kokovic

Alla wears earrings and bracelets by MELISSA + MARIE and a dress by JUANA MARTIN

“A truly beautiful person is someone who gives themselves the freedom to be sincere. Not perfect — sincere.”

Alla Kostromichova speaks with Sara Douedari
for LE MILE .Digital

seen   STEFAN KOKOVIC
hair + make up   MARYSE KANARELLIS
stylist   STEPHEN BARRINGTON via STUDIO CTRL
bts   ANGEL FERRER BOSCAN
photo assistant   YANA LAUMONIER
beauty assistant   BEATRICE ROSE FATIER
interview   SARA DOUEDARI

Just Riadh *The Shape of Stillness

JUST RIADH
in the Flow of His Own Frequency

interview + written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Just Riadh carries a sense of awareness that feels immediate yet measured, a creative rhythm that unfolds from the inside rather than reacting to what surrounds him.

His world moves through frames that blur laughter and reflection into a single gesture, where editing becomes thought and motion becomes language. Nothing about his presence feels rehearsed; it moves with the quiet logic of someone who listens before he speaks, who lets feeling lead before structure appears. His work hums at the pace of attention, absorbing fragments of daily noise and turning them into a texture of emotion that lingers longer than the scroll it lives inside.

Riadh wears a total look ALAIN PAUL for the cover

“Being alone isn’t a void, it’s just the moment when you can finally hear yourself.”

Riadh Belaïche speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

When Riadh talks, the energy shifts from movement into something slower, almost cinematic in the way ideas form and stretch.

Riadh describes silence as a necessary state, a soft, breathing space that lets meaning resurface after being dispersed by the constant pulse of connection. Each sentence lands as if it has already travelled through stillness, carrying traces of observation, intimacy, and restraint. There is no division between what he shows and what he holds back, only a continuity that runs through everything he makes — an instinctive trust in rhythm as a way of existing. For LE MILE, he opens that rhythm further, revealing the subtle architecture of how emotion takes shape before it becomes visible. The conversation unfolds like an unseen edit, alive with the sense of something quietly assembling itself beneath the surface. His presence stays within the moment, without urgency or distance, holding time long enough for it to mean something again.

Riadh wears a total look by ACNE STUDIOS

Alban E. Smajli
When you put your phone down, how long does it take before you feel alone?

Riadh
Depends on the day. Sometimes silence feels like a break, sometimes it feels like a slap. I’ve learned that being alone isn’t a void, it’s just the moment when you can finally hear yourself. We spend so much time connected that we forget what our own thoughts sound like. When I put my phone down, it’s almost like meeting myself again — awkward at first, then peaceful. I don’t always feel lonely; sometimes I just feel quieter. It’s not emptiness, it’s space. And that space reminds me that my worth doesn’t depend on notifications or numbers. It’s weirdly grounding, like hitting pause on a world that never stops talking.

Your videos move fast — when does speed turn into emotion?

When the pace starts saying what words can’t. Speed, for me, is how life feels when it’s too much — messy, loud, but real. I edit the way I think, so the chaos isn’t random; it’s emotional. Sometimes a fast cut says more than a sentence ever could. It’s the rhythm of scrolling, switching, reacting, but under all that motion, there’s a heartbeat. I like to think people don’t just watch the energy, they feel it. The movement becomes meaning. It’s not about keeping up, it’s about catching a feeling that flashes by in a second before it disappears again.

You’ve built a version of yourself online. What remains when the camera cuts?

Pretty much the same person, just quieter. The difference isn’t in who I am, it’s in the energy. Online, you give; offline, you breathe. When the camera cuts, I’m not performing, I’m just being. There’s something refreshing about not having to think in captions or timing jokes. That’s when I get to be slower, softer, and real in a way that doesn’t need to be posted. People assume creators are always “on,” but most of us crave silence. When the camera’s off, I’m not the highlight reel, I’m the unedited version. And that’s where I remember why I started doing this in the first place.

Riadh wears a trenchcoat by AMI, scarf by HERMÈS, and a shirt by UNIQLO

Riadh wears a top by AMI, vintage tie by CÉLINE, pants and skirt by JADED LONDON, and shoes by TABI

Your humor connects millions. What colour does quiet take in your world?

A soft grey. Not sad, not bright, just balanced. Quiet isn’t absence for me, it’s recovery. It’s the colour of breathing out after being loud for too long. People see humor as constant energy, but real humor needs stillness too. The funny stuff often comes from moments when I’m not trying to be funny, when I’m observing instead of performing. In the quiet, I remember that making people laugh isn’t about noise, it’s about connection. And to connect, you have to pause sometimes. Grey is that in-between shade where new ideas start forming before the next laugh arrives.

What does your younger self ask you now, from before all of this began?

He’d ask, “Are you still real?” And I’d tell him, “Still real, just better framed.” I think he’d be surprised, maybe proud, but also a little suspicious. There’s always a fear of losing your truth when people start paying attention. I’d tell him it’s okay to grow, to shape yourself, to play with light and angles, as long as you don’t forget your core. The kid I was didn’t care about followers; he just wanted to make people feel something. I try to stay loyal to that version, the one who created out of joy before anyone was watching.

Imagine a story you haven’t posted yet — what happens in it?

A guy turns off his phone and realises the world’s still here. It’s funny and a bit sad, maybe too real to post for now. In that story, he walks outside and everything feels louder, slower, more alive. He’s confused at first, like he forgot how to exist without a screen telling him how. Then he starts noticing things: people, sounds, small coincidences. It’s not a viral story, it’s a quiet one. No hashtags, no filters, just presence. Maybe that’s why I haven’t made it yet. I think I need to live it before I can share it.

Riadh wears a long veste by COURRÈGES, sunglasses by GUCCI, pants by THE FRANKIE SHOP, and shoes by NEW BALANCE

talent JUST RIADH

credits
all Images (c) LE MILE / Maxence Renard

Riadh wears a total look by DRÔLE DE MONSIEUR

“He’d ask, ‘Are you still real?’ And I’d tell him, ‘Still real, just better framed.”

Riadh Belaïche speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

seen   MAXENCE RENARD
assistant photography   ELLIOTT SB
art direction   BENJAMIN DAUGEARD
make up   CHRISTOPHE PUJOL
assistant make up   CLEMENCE HELFMAN
hair   CLOTHILDE LAISNE
styling   FLORIAN SUDRES
assistant styling   AYRTON
movement direction   ISMAÏL
set design   DEBORAH SADOUN
production   MATIAS FAURE
assistant production   PAOLA RURIACK

Paloceras Method with Mika Matikainen

The Paloceras Method
Eyewear That Remembers Your Dreams

written + interview MONICA DE LUNA

Paloceras spreads across the table as frames bloom from sketches and colors press against translucent daylight. At the center, Mika Matikainen, co-founder and creative force behind the brand, shapes eyewear that grows in his hands, each form a quiet hallucination, a new skin for identity.

The old stable turned studio gathers objects with stories—large sheets of paper, bamboo handles, a loyal Olivetti typewriter humming, sculptures from vanished journeys. Every shelf leans toward experiment, every corner pulses with possibility.

Lines gather mythic form, softening at the edges while lenses shimmer with the quiet promise of change. Mika drifts between drafts, old ideas, bursts of color, textures pulled from the edges of the seasons. Candlelight flickers next to stacked books, loose archives of obsession and plans. Pebble, Velvet Rouge VX, translucent blue, wild honey—each frame gives off a subtle current, a pulse charging the everyday.

Paloceras, named for butterflies and lost afternoons, gathers light and memory in a single gesture. The process moves at its own rhythm, tuned to curiosity and the feel of weight and absence. Limited editions drift out of the stable-studio, carried by collaborations and the slow choreography of design, always searching for a new edge, another fiction, another face. Mika’s practice fills space with resonance, objects settling in the psyche and gently nudging the face toward the unreal. Frames move past accessory, falling into ritual, calling for a new kind of gaze at the reflection in glass. Paloceras skips across language and function, alive in the space between hand and dream, echo and artifact. Eyewear dreams up its own mythology and writes new bodies, all in the flash it takes for a stranger to see themselves—shifted, for a moment, by the promise of another form.

Mika Matikainen
seen by Carl Bergman

“It’s in our DNA. We imagined something magnetic without limitations, then found ways to make it real. It’s believing in self-transformative distortion in the ordinary. If you feel it, you go for it.”

Mika Matikainen speaks with Monica de Luna
for LE MILE Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

Monica de Luna
You design objects that sit on people’s noses and rewrite their entire sense of self in under four seconds. At what point did you realise that glasses are less about vision and more about fiction?

Mika Matikainen
Straight from the beginning, so I would say it’s in our DNA. When it comes to eyewear, it’s all just repeating the same, and to us as outlier designers it felt appalling, so we took a step back, imagined something magnetic without any physical limitations, then scratched our heads finding ways to make it physically possible. But I believe it was worth the hassle for the good of people’s excitement. I really like that you paired fiction and vision, because that’s exactly what it is: believing in magical self-transformative distortion in the ordinary. If you feel it, you go for it.

There’s something about your frames that feels allergic to branding, or drama, even allergic to anything that moves too fast. How do you keep things quiet without making them disappear?

What a question! Maybe by revisiting older drafts, ideas, and concepts quite occasionally with Alexis, my co-founder, and trying to intuitively embrace or focus on details that feel relevant after they’ve had a beauty nap in our design archives. When it comes to a physical design object like eyewear, there are some limitations (that we don’t respect) that set the table for something in which a few creative key decisions define the product. If you just nail the details, it’s not enough.

Do you believe good design should leave a mark, or is it more like perfume, something people can’t quite name but keep turning their heads for anyway?

I’m not a big fan of perfumes, even though I love the conceptual thinking behind them, so yes, definitely a perfume-like floating shadow that absorbs into your psyche when you least expect it.

“Anything that comes from within is genuine and interesting. Time is a subjective pocket of life for each person. Focus on what resonates instead of seeking validation. Resonance to the max.”

Mika Matikainen speaks with Monica de Luna
for LE MILE Offline Edition - FW 2025 Nr. 39

A Paloceras customer walks past their own reflection and forgets it’s them for a second. Is that the point?

Exactly, the whole point is about embracing the paradox of multiple realities simultaneously. I see this as a bigger societal issue when people rationalise themselves into their fact-based truth bubbles. We need imaginary spikes piercing the imaginary bubbles between individuals, thus making life less imaginary through real presence. Those spikes can and should be used also on yourself. PUFF!

Walk us through your studio, what’s always within reach? What’s broken but never thrown out? And what’s there just to remind you that not everything needs a purpose?


Recently, a journalist who visited my studio called this space a Stable Studio, since this used to be a stable for three racehorses. Now, more boringly, it’s a set of two large desks with a lot of shelf space for objects of interest, a repository for ideas. Always within reach: large sheets of paper, ink, brushes, markers, pencils, candles, books. An old, fully functional Olivetti typewriter that just inspires by its presence. A bit broken but not thrown away is a set of bamboo handles and their parts for a bag project that’s been way too long on a to-do list. Objects without purpose are small statues or sculptures from adventures; they light up something in me even though I can’t remember the origins of all of them.


People keep romanticising analog, but most of them still refresh their inbox with two fingers. What’s your relationship with being unreachable/offline?


Love it. Still waiting for the era when it’s possible to transform sensations more directly into something tangible. A small, bitter forest cherry into a frame, or the feeling of wet moss after rain under bare feet as the haptic feel for a product. When you think about it, using digital devices is basically tapping glass or plastic with your fingers for hours. Numbing. Anything else is easily more interesting as a sensory experience. Respecting offline moments alone and with friends, and always having Do Not Disturb mode on.


Do you think your glasses look better on people who don’t smile?

Whatever makes people more themselves is desirable; then it’s up to them if they feel like smiling, writing, observing, or whatever connects them more with themselves. Our dopamine systems are so entertained by external stimuli that we should wear eyewear with mirrors on the inside of lenses to highlight what’s in there. Not AR but AS—as in augmented self.

How do you feel about people calling things “timeless”? It usually sounds like something you say when you’re afraid of death or passing trends. What do you call it instead?

If one is after trends then it’s acceptable to be afraid of death. Anything that comes from within is more genuine and interesting and “timeless”. What is timeless, or time, is a different thing. It’s a subjective pocket of life on each person’s own timeline and means something different for each individual. Briefly, our time is limited so why settle for something ordinary? But to answer the question, I’d focus on sensing what resonates on an individual level instead of relying on external validation points. Resonance to the max!


You live in Finland, does the weather there teach you anything about surfaces?

I’ve also lived elsewhere in Europe—in the UK, Switzerland, Portugal—and what I really appreciate back here in Finland is the stillness, especially outside the urban areas in real connection with nature. Maybe because Finland has one of the oldest bedrocks on the planet, more than three billion years old. Maybe it’s the silent grounding effect it evaporates if one’s open to it. Weather-wise, we have all the seasons quite clearly, so there’s the possibility of experiencing all surfaces with different additions such as water, slush, ice, snow, all in different light and air density conditions. I believe it’s the layer of details and conditions paired with experiences of similar things in other places, through different cultural and climatic lenses.

What do your eyes look for when they’re tired of being fed?

As far as possible, looking at the horizon, the sky, the sea, the leaves of trees. Also just looking around and pausing auto-labeling of what the eyes communicate, and sensing visual surfaces just as they are.

all visuals (c) PALOCERAS

SANDRA YI SECINDIVER *Building Yutani and Trusting the Silence

SANDRA YI SECINDIVER
on Building Yutani and Trusting the Silence

interview SARAH ARENDTS

Sandra Yi Sencindiver enters each project with precision that borders on ritual. Every element—tone, costume, space—serves a purpose. She talks about collaboration as architecture, where everyone builds toward the same tension.

In Alien: Earth, she gives shape to Yutani, head of Weyland-Yutani, a woman written into the myth of control. The world around her character mirrors her gravity, the sets by Andy Nicholson, the sculptural tailoring of Suttirat Anne Larlarb, and jewelry imagined from other planets.

shoes LORO PIANA

“Even though I’ve done this my whole adult life, I still have the feeling that I’m just getting started.”

Sandra Yi Sencindiver speaks with Sarah Arendts
for LE MILE .Digital

Sencindiver recalls the process as a study in trust. “You don’t need to make it big or loud,” she says. Her Yutani moves through rooms built on deference, a force measured by stillness and authority.

Between acting and directing, she occupies two distinct frequencies. In Watch, her film that unfolds like a slow pulse, she shaped rhythm through minimalism and control. As a director, she speaks of patience, tone, and the invisible choreography between crew and camera. As an actor, she returns to intuition and the chemistry of shared focus. The conversation moves through laughter, sharp honesty, and the pleasure of making. She speaks of Geek Girl, of award nights that end in chaos and applause, of risks still waiting in the dark corners of arthouse cinema. Sandra Yi Sencindiver is refining energy, tuning stories until they vibrate at the right frequency. Each project marks another layer in a career defined by curiosity, precision, and presence.

total LORO PIANA
jewellery CARTIER

Sarah Arendts
When you step into Yutani in Alien: Earth, the room changes. Do you script that power in advance, or does it arrive in the moment, born out of breath, posture, accident?

Sandra Yi Sencindiver
There is no accident involved, but there is trust. I will get back to that. So many people build Yutani up to be Yutani. It all starts on the page, the way she is written. In the way other characters talk about her. How they pay reverence to her. Then there is the choice of venues, the exclusivity and grandeur of the locations. The way Andy Nicholson dresses the set with such beauty. Suttirat Anne Larlarb, who’s just brilliant, developed this whole concept for her: exclusivity, exquisite tailoring, reptilian, almost brutalist jewelry. We imagined she wears rare stones and metals from other planets. We talked about Yutani as a woman who dresses for no one—not for men, but simply because she takes pleasure in aesthetics, in peacocking for herself. And at the same time, she knows her pristine appearance reflects her role as head of Weyland-Yutani. So, we never see her casual, never informal.

Then you have Connie Parker and Sanna Seppanen, creating a new makeup and hair look for her every single time. They are amazing.

Now back to the issue of trust. With someone who is that powerful, I don’t think you need to make it big or loud. You need to trust that a few but precise choices will be enough. I remember Noah writing: “she has the poise of someone who owns a fifth of the entire planet”. And in episode 1 we even learn she owns a lot of the solar system too, ha! So, I thought that kind of power would translate to walking on water. And I made her soft-spoken, because she’s so used to being listened to. She doesn’t need to raise her voice or move loudly—people naturally give her space. Well, until she meets Boy K, who gives reverence to no one.

Season 2 of Geek Girl is loading—
in one word, tell me the energy of your character this time around. Now expand it into a sentence that only she could say.

“Filip, tell this journalist that Yuji cannot be reduced to one sentence!”

WATCH was yours from the very first line on the page. If the film had a heartbeat, what BPM would it tick at, and who or what sets the metronome?

A very slow heartbeat, that slowly but steadily rises into an eerie, panicked pace—but eventually finds a kind, restorative rhythm at the end.
I wanted everything to feel playful and harmonious on the surface, with just a hint of something slightly off. As if all the pieces are bright and cheerful, yet there’s an undercurrent of unease you can’t quite place. That subtle tension builds quietly, until the truth begins to reveal itself. Then, a few twists shift the focus—leading toward a kind of resolution, but not the one you expect.

Seeking Hwa Sun—nominated for the Danish Academy Award Robert, an echo across the industry. Do you remember the exact second the news reached you, and what sound was in the room?

Well, a couple of months before the announcement, a jury shortlists 10 films from all the Danish entries to Odense International Film Festival and then the academy votes. And on awards night at the festival, they announce the final five nominees. So, when they called out our names, there was this huge roar of excitement and applause from the packed venue. Quite thrilling and overwhelming.

dress NANUSHKA
tights FALKE
shoes JENNIFER CHAMANDI
jewellery CARTIER

Draw me a split-screen: left side Sandra the actor on set, right side Sandra the director in the edit suite. What does each version of you whisper to the other?

They don’t speak at all, ha ha. The tasks are so different—they’re two completely different sides of me. On set, I try to be present in the moment, connect with the people around me, and focus on what the director, my co-stars, and the scene needs. I’m a piece of the bigger picture. In the editing room, I’m the one moving the pieces around, thinking about what came before and what comes after—deciding on the bigger picture. My brain is switched on in the editing room, whereas on set I try to let my body, intuition, and impulses guide me when on set.

Quick-fire, no commas:

book that shaped you

– “Trust” by Hernan Diaz, it really plays with and utilizes perspective as a storytelling device. It was conceptually something that inspired me a lot when writing Seeking Hwa Sun.

a scene that broke you

– oh, I’m such a softy when it comes to films and TV. I cry over so many beautiful and brutal pieces of art. I recently rewatched Parasite, and two scenes are just heartbreaking. The first is when Song Kang-ho’s character, the father posing as a driver, sees his daughter stabbed to death but can’t acknowledge knowing her—and so he can’t help her. And then the ending, when his son, played by Choi Woo-shik, spins this fairy tale about someday becoming successful enough to save his father from the basement. Both are devastating.

a silence you treasure

– when you’re with someone you know so well that you can share a space in silence and not feel the need to fill it with words.

a risk still waiting

– a female auteur offering me a dangerously dark part in an indie or arthouse film. Something Isabelle Huppert would have said yes to 20 years ago.

If tomorrow you had to build a film with nothing but three props and a window, what would you choose, and how would the story unfold?

Oh, what a fun task! I’d choose two characters who live in the same room but at different points in time, and they’d have the same three props: a cat, a bottle of milk, and a bed. You’d watch each of them live through one day in this room—two different people, the same three props, the same window view, but completely different perspectives on life.

Complete the chain for us:

On set I _____

try to be kind and patient. Actors spend a lot of time waiting between scenes—it takes an army to get everything just right. And then sometimes we’ll do the same scene over and over again from every possible angle. It can take hours of shooting to cover just a few minutes on screen. Both the waiting and the repeating can be exhausting. But you also want to give energy to your co-stars so they can shine, and at the same time conserve enough energy for your own moments in front of the camera—so they matter. And of course, the crew are under huge pressure too. There are so many moving parts, and the least we can do is be kind and patient, because everyone really is doing their best. Funny how the hardest work can also be the thing I absolutely love.

Behind the camera I _____

try to be calm and patient. Before I started directing, I thought it was mainly about sharing your vision and giving artistic direction. And sure, that’s part of it—but it’s just as much about setting the tone and the work ethic on set, and about seeing and bringing out the best in your cast and crew while still respecting budget and time. It was such an eye-opener to realize how important every single person and their role is. That experience has made me a more mindful actor, with even greater respect for everyone on set.

At home I _____

wish I were cooler and more patient. Most of the time I really do try to be kind—but why is it that the world gets your best bits, while the people you love most sometimes get the short end? Luckily, my husband and children show me an incredible amount of love and patience. And my kids, especially, are experts at calling me out when I’m being short-tempered. But they all know—because I tell them every single day—that they’re my favorite people in the world, and I love them to pieces.

In the future I _____

wish to bring more great stories to the audience. Even though I have done so my whole adult life, I still have the feeling that I am just getting started!

total THOM BROWNE
jewellery CARTIER

dress ISSEY MIYAKI
shoes JENNIFER CHAMANDI
jewellery CARTIER

dress TORY BURCH
shoes JENNIFER CHAMANDI
jewellery CARTIER

“She [Yutani] dresses for no one—not for men, but because she takes pleasure in aesthetics.”

Sandra Yi Sencindiver speaks with Sarah Arendts
for LE MILE .Digital

photographer + creative director IAN KOBYLANSKI
styling ELENA GARCIA
set design LOUIS TOLEDO
make up SASHA MAMEDOVA
hair ABI IGZ
lighting assistant NICOLA SCLANO

talent SANDRA YI SECINDIVER
via TELESCOPE

RAPHAEL DIOGO *Five Days Under Lights

RAPHAEL DIOGO
*Five Days Under Lights

interview CHIDOZI OBASI
written ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Raphael Diogo grew up between waves and asphalt, with Venice Beach feeding a body in constant movement, Jiu-Jitsu classes, soccer drills, skateboards, surfboards, mornings in Gold’s Gym where sweat turned into chance, a scout stopping, a conversation beginning, the kind that opens a door without announcing itself.

Modeling was already part of his family’s vocabulary, both parents carrying it as a lived memory, so when the first steps came it felt less like invention and more like continuation, though with the restless energy of someone who wants to carve out his own form.

total VALENTINO

“Getting the call for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male campaign brought tears of joy, a moment of true fulfillment.”

Raphael Diogo speaks with Chidozie Obasi
for LE MILE .Digital

The notebooks filled with sketches, the hours of training, the steady rhythm of curiosity all folded into the way Raphael speaks about patience, about humility, about the strange elasticity of time inside this industry. He insists on gratitude as foundation, on respect as gesture, on presence as currency, and in that insistence there is no trace of calculation, only the sense of someone who has already faced enough uncertainty to know that the ground beneath him shifts constantly.

Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male campaign marked the rupture, five days in Bulgaria under lights and choreography, a job that required preparation of body and mind and delivered the quiet shock of tears when confirmation arrived, not from insecurity but from the sudden weight of arrival. That moment stretched into confidence, into a sense of place, into a reminder that careers are built in accumulations, in the way encounters layer upon each other, in how journeys fold back and expand again. Now in New York, Raphael continues the unfolding. Work, relationships, lessons, always the search for what comes next without a rush to define it too quickly. The horizon remains open, and with it the possibility of passing on everything he has gathered since 2019, the small fragments of knowledge, discipline, and energy that shape him in this present moment.

cap POLO RALPH LAUREN
shirt, sweater, coat + trousers PAUL SMITH
ring TITLE OF WORK
sneaker VANS

total EMPORIO ARMANI
custom eyewear KAT & PAUL AOUN

Chidozi Obasi
First things first: could you introduce yourself to us?

Raphael Diogo
My name is Raphael Diogo. I’m an American/Brazilian model, born and raised in Venice Beach, CA. I grew up staying active—whether it was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, playing soccer for the LA Galaxy Academy, or skating and surfing with friends. I’ve also always had a creative side, spending free time painting and sketching. I now live in New York City, where I’m continuing to pursue my modeling career.

What made you venture into modelling?

Funny enough, both of my parents used to be models. I never gave it much thought until I was scouted while working out at Gold’s Gym in Venice one morning. At first, I was a bit skeptical, but then I realized I had nothing to lose—so why not take the risk? It really helped having the support of my parents when I was taking those first steps.

When did you realize you wanted to make a career out of it?

I’ve always taken pride in giving my best in anything I do. After being scouted, I spent the first few months learning everything I could about the industry. What kind of jobs are out there? Who’s doing them? Can people really support themselves financially doing this? How do I get to the top? I became obsessed with the opportunities and how much creativity the industry allowed me to express. The spontaneity of it all—every day being different—kept me excited about what could come next.

What has been the most challenging aspect of modeling?

The hardest part has been staying patient with myself and my journey. It’s so easy to compare yourself to others, especially with social media. My self-belief is strong, but there are times when I forget how far I’ve come—especially when things don’t go the way I hoped. I’ve learned that timing is everything. We all want to be part of amazing experiences and hit certain milestones, but we have to trust that the time will come.

blazer FEAR OF GOD
tank top CALVIN KLEIN
leather pants RHUDE
shoes RALPH LAUREN
jewelry TITLE OF WORK

short + vest ISSEY MIYAKE
bracelet + necklace TITLE OF WORK

 And how about your biggest pinch-me experiences?

That would definitely be getting the call that I was confirmed as the lead in Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male fragrance campaign. I flew to Bulgaria to shoot five days of TV commercials, print, and digital assets. It was the first time I really had to prepare myself—both physically and mentally—for a job. That experience gave me a level of confidence I hadn’t tapped into before. There were definitely tears of joy. It was a moment of true fulfillment.

 Is there anything you’d change about your career?

Absolutely nothing. I’m incredibly grateful for every moment that has brought me to where I am today. To everyone who has believed in and supported me since day one—thank you from the bottom of my heart. There were plenty of tough times, but I’ve been fortunate to have a support system that encouraged me to keep striving for greatness.

What have been your biggest lessons?

The importance of humility and gratitude. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve accomplished—what matters is how you present yourself and how you treat others. I aim to show up with a positive and professional attitude and to treat everyone with respect. We’re all human, and our time is valuable. I feel lucky to work with such talented individuals, and I’ll always do my best to spread love and positivity.

Final hopes?

I want to continue this journey for as long as possible. Building relationships and creating memories—that’s what it’s all about. Since starting in 2019, I’ve learned so much, and I’d love to pass that knowledge on to anyone just getting started.

shirt, blazer + trousers ZEGNA
necklace TITLE OF WORK
sneakers VANS

beret EMPORIO ARMANI
tank top CALVIN KLEIN
leather pants RHUDE
jewelry TITLE OF WORK

“I want to continue this journey for as long as possible. Building relationships and creating memories—that’s what it’s all about.”

Raphael Diogo speaks with Chidozie Obasi
for LE MILE .Digital

neck scarf HERMÈS
coat + jacket BRIONI
trousers DRIES VAN NOTEN
jewelry TITLE OF WORK
sneakers VANS

photographer ANKA GARBOWSKA
stylist TATIANA CINQUINO
grooming AMANDA WILSON
intro text ALBAN E. SMAJLI

talent RAPHAEL DIOGO
via HEROES MODEL MANAGEMENT

DEBORAH DE LUCA *Equality at 140 BPM

DEBORAH DE LUCA
*Equality at 140 BPM

written + interview ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Born in Scampia and wired for motion, Deborah de Luca takes the booth as a surveyor might seize a blueprint, her compass a strobe that scans the crowd.

She draws tempo across faces like lines of elevation, setting three instinctive tracks as a base layer, a quiet study before construction begins. From there she lifts the room piece by piece, each transition a new frame rising into place, until the set breathes as a structure of rhythm and light. Lately the final touch often glimmers with a Gigi D’Agostino refrain — a silver filament stretched through a contemporary shell, binding past and present in one luminous design.

Silence holds a private garden key for Deborah. Life surrounds her with music in studios, in clubs, in cars, so she seeks stillness and lets it refill the body. Between the first record and the last drop new selves appear and dissolve, across long marathons of four to seven hours, a full cycle of morning energy, afternoon charge, evening glow. One word: equality, a law for dance floors where categories melt and a single pulse writes a passport for everyone.

dress VERSACE
shoes LE SILLA

“In a techno club, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, Black, gray, yellow, Christian, Jewish, atheist—inside, we’re all of the same religion: techno.”

Deborah de Luca speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

Her faith moves through cosmic grammar. God equals the universe, a field of energy, color, and music that answers when addressed with intention. She runs her label since 2013, appetite vivid for sound, image, cinema, miles. Tastes shift like seasons of the tongue, sometimes heavy and hard, sometimes featherlight and melodic, especially in the final hour when the sun inside her sets leans toward amber. Craft sits on both shoulders during those passages, melody braiding with steel, her signature: hard pop, techno fluent.
Small rooms feed her with a certain charge, afters where the ceiling breathes and the floor talks back, like that morning in Florence when the dial locked into hard art techno and a new facet snapped into view. The ugliest sound in her memory came from plastic whistles pecking at the kick, a fashion that squealed and left a sour ring. Spin her catalog from end to start and a path appears, a gradual climb shaped by taste and by the sound of her city, a line that rises in small steps and keeps rising.

When the lights rise and the room exhales, a ritual follows. Fifteen minutes of fierce self audit, choices weighed and corners checked, then a homing current toward bed, toward two dogs, toward the sunset that washes the house in gold and resets the chest. Flights create a sealed capsule where the pilot drives and the grid fades into distance, films flicker, thoughts wander, and nerves surrender. She wants the work to live on, a structure that other hands can lift and carry, music that glows with memory and future. Deborah de Luca composes momentum and mercy in the same breath, a builder who treats crowds like cities and nights like blueprints, and across seven hour marathons or one hour transmissions the mission stays constant, read the room, raise the structure, leave them with a song that follows them home. For a long, long while. Always.

top VOFT KNIT
skirt RICK OWENS

Alban E. Smajli
Your sets feel like architecture. What’s the last thing that shattered your sense of control?

Deborah de Luca
I take “architecture” as a compliment, but honestly, there’s not much pre-built. The first three tracks I already know, because I need time to read the room and understand who’s in front of me. Those first 15 minutes are my time to analyze. From there, I build what comes next. Maybe that’s architecture, but it happens live, piece by piece. Only when I play a DJ set that’s streamed online, like for the Street Parade or my live shows from the Vele di Scampia or at Maradona Stadium those are the only sets I prepare at home. They’re not random but carefully studied since they’ll have media exposure. I decide on the tracks beforehand, or even create some pieces specifically for the occasion, but I never fix their order.

You grew up in Scampia. Now you tour the world pulsing through Funktion-Ones. Is there still a part of you that hears silence and gets suspicious?

Actually, I love silence, I don’t become suspicious. When I get in the car, I turn the music off; if a driver is with me, I turn it off; if I’m at a restaurant, I like silence. Because I live constantly with music—when I make it, when I listen to others, when I work in clubs, or when I hear someone play before or after me. So I need silence, I look for it, it regenerates me.

How many versions of you exist between the opening track and the last drop at 4:37 a.m.?

The first track is always mine, the last one is usually not, especially lately, when I like closing with a Gigi D’Agostino piece from the early 2000s. So no, I’m not the same from the first to the last track. I take a journey, especially if I play long sets of 4, 5, even 7 hours. I’m not the same person from the first to the last record. Sometimes I come back, then I drift away—it’s the same in life. You wake up one way in the morning, by afternoon you have different energy, and in the evening it changes again.

Do you believe in God? Or just in bass?

I believe, but not in the God most people think of—not that man with long hair and blue eyes, born in Jerusalem, who should have been darker-skinned anyway. I don’t believe in that. I believe in the universe. For me, God is the universe. When you ask for something, you ask the universe. The energy comes from the universe, you attract it. To me, that’s the same thing—God is the universe. But it has no human figure; it’s everything around us: energy, colors, music. That, for me, is God.

top VOFT KNIT
skirt ISZA
lip ring ASK & EMBLA

You run your own label. Do you still feel hunger, or is it something deeper now? Obsession maybe, or ritual?

I’ve managed my label alone since 2013. I’m always hungry, and that will never pass—whether for music, colors, friendships, films, travel. Hunger will never leave me. Sometimes I just change tastes—sometimes I want sweet, sometimes salty. In music, sometimes heavier, harder; other times softer, like in the last hour of long sets. But yes, the hunger never fades.

Do you miss the chaos of small clubs? The kind where the smoke machine breaks and the floor sweats back at you?

I miss the energy of small clubs a lot. Sometimes, when after a festival I play a little after-party in a small place, I’m really happy, because you’re closer to people. It also gives me a different idea of music, I play differently. For example, last time in Florence, in a club after a festival, I was much harder than usual—very art-techno. I discovered a new side of myself there.

What’s the worst sound you’ve ever heard on stage?

When the sound system isn’t as it should be and the monitor speaker starts crackling, it’s terrible — it breaks the magic.

If someone played your full discography backwards, what message would emerge?

You’d hear the journey. Where I started slowly, climbing step by step—not mountains, just hills. I evolved with my own taste, with people’s taste, with the sounds around me, with the influences of my city. You’d hear that it’s been a steady path upward—not of highs and lows, but always slowly rising.

Techno doesn’t need words, but if it did—what would yours be? Just one.

Equality. In a techno club, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, Black, gray, yellow, Christian, Jewish, atheist—nobody cares. Inside, we’re all of the same religion: techno. And that’s something very beautiful.

What keeps you OFFLINE when your whole life runs on voltage and signal? Or is OFFLINE just a myth sold to the unplugged?

My home, my dogs, the sunset at home. Also when I fly. Yesterday I had a 14-hour flight and could have connected, but I didn’t. On planes, I let the pilot drive, I rest, I disconnect completely. When I’m not flying, it’s still my dogs and my home that keep me offline.

You’ve built something—music, myth, a kind of feminine rage wrapped in steel. Do you ever worry it’ll outgrow you?

No, I don’t think it can become bigger than me. Music is understandable for everyone, and even if it grows, it remains something elementary. I never feared it could outgrow me.

When the lights come up and the bodies thin out, when it’s just sweat on the floor and silence in the booth, where does your mind go? Who do you become when the music stops?

Honestly, I’m very tough on myself. The first 15 minutes after a set I spend thinking I haven’t done my very best—that I should have played another track, that something was too easy, too commercial, or too hard. Even when everyone says it was great, I criticize myself. Then I can’t wait to get into bed, and to go home to my dogs.

“For me, God is the universe. Energy, colors, music—that, for me, is God.”

Deborah de Luca speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

top YVY LEATHER
panties MAISON CLOSE

photographer NICHOLAS FOLS
styling + production ANCA MACAVEI
styling assistants JYOTHSANA SELVAM + LESLIE GUERRA
assistant on set MELISSA RUSSO

talent
DEBORAH DE LUCA

YULIA PAVLEN *When You´re Strange

YULIA PAVLEN
*When You´re Strange

written + interview HANNAH ROSE PRENDERGAST

POV: You embrace who you are, learn to laugh at yourself, and never fear standing out. —a friendly reminder from Yulia Pavlen.

Born in the early years of Ukraine’s independence, she grew up during a time of radical transformation. Ever the optimist, she carried bright, artful memories of home when she moved to Berlin in 2022.
In this new city, where being strange felt less like an exception and more like a shared language, her TikTok became an extension of how she moved through the world. If you see Yulia doing her makeup on the subway, the best thing you can do is be her mirror.

Shooting outdoors in 40°F (5°C) weather was one of my most challenging experiences. I wore five looks, most of which were lightweight—one was just a skirt and bra. I was freezing the whole time but didn’t say anything. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, so I focused on giving my best.
The team was amazing, checking in regularly, which I really appreciated.
I also faced my fear of heights: sitting on a subway exit railing, standing in a second-floor windowsill, and posing on an electrical box.
Despite the challenges, I’m incredibly grateful for the experience. I love stepping out of my comfort zone. My motto is, 'This scares me, but let’s try it. ' Taking risks and pushing myself are just who I am.
When I’m doing what I love, I forget about the discomfort. It feels like leaving the world behind and stepping into a space where I can express myself freely.

—Yulia Pavlen

Yulia Pavlen
Coverstory LE MILE Ephemeral Edition Nr. 38 / 01/2025
seen by Per Appelgren, wearing CELINE

“I was always Daddy’s little girl … riding on his motorcycle gave me my first real taste of freedom.”

Yulia Pavlen speaks with Hannah Rose Prendergast
for LE MILE Issue 38 / Ephemeral Edition SS25

coat JOSHUA SENGESPEICK

top CELINE
panties MIU MIU
shoes AEYDE
coat JOSHUA SENGESPEICK

Hannah Rose Prendergast
What inspired you to start your Get Ready With Me series on the subway?

Yulia
When creating new content, I always ask myself, ‘Would this idea hook me?’ The GRWM concept came to me almost by accident as I reflected on what would genuinely captivate me. I love makeup and often do it in public spaces, so the idea feels natural. Moving forward, I want to improve the quality of my content, especially in terms of lighting and video production. I’m always brainstorming new ideas. On TikTok, you can never be sure if an idea will succeed—you have to try it out and see how viewers respond.

How do you and your camerawoman work together to bring your vision to life?

My camerawoman, Valeria Shelihova, is also a close friend. Although we’re both from Ukraine, we met in Berlin. We have a great connection and often communicate without speaking. I provide the creative direction, and Valeria captures it all as it unfolds.

What do you find therapeutic about creating content?

It sounds odd, but I thrive on not being accepted by everyone. Not everyone rejects me for wearing makeup, but many people do. That energy of rejection, rather than breaking me, fuels my determination. I’ve learned to stand firm and not let others’ opinions affect me. When you stand your ground and refuse to let negativity define you, that’s when you truly win—and there’s no better feeling than that.

How has your artist name changed over time, and what does it mean to you now?

As a teenager, I went by 'Autistic' and even got it tattooed. I chose the name because I was reserved, shy, and had no friends. People thought something was wrong with me. At the time, I was studying in art college, immersing myself in painting and classical literature. I saw myself as a strange, lyrical character named 'Autistic.'

When I moved to Berlin, I was set to collaborate with a designer, but he declined because of my name. That’s when I realized it might be holding me back professionally. I wanted a name that feels more like me—timeless, elegant, and strong. Yulia Pavlen aligns more with where I’m heading, both creatively and professionally.

top CELINE
panties MIU MIU
shoes AEYDE

total look SPORTMAX
shoes AEYDE

“Moving to Berlin wasn’t easy, but thanks to the kindness of strangers, I never felt alone.”

Yulia Pavlen speaks with Hannah Rose Prendergast
for LE MILE Issue 38 / Ephemeral Edition SS25

top NICKLAS SKOVGAARD
tights FALKE
necklace PEARL OCCTOPUSS.Y

What was your experience growing up in Ukraine and then moving to Berlin?

I’m from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s first capital—a beautiful yet industrial city with a unique charm. I grew up in the Saltovka neighborhood, which endured heavy shelling due to its proximity to the Russian border. Soviet-era panel housing shaped much of my early years, but despite everything, I love Kharkiv and its people—they are kind, resilient, and have an incredible sense of humor.

Moving to Berlin wasn’t easy, but I was fortunate to meet incredible people who helped me with housing and paperwork and made me feel like family despite being strangers. Thanks to their kindness, I never felt alone or afraid of not knowing German. They were always there to support me. Living in Europe changed me. People here are much more supportive than in Ukraine. Back home, I often felt misunderstood or ridiculed. I guess I was a bit too different. Now, I’m excited to collaborate with talented professionals in the fashion industry from around the world.

Who introduced you to the world of art?

As an artist, my father exposed me to art from a young age. He often took me to exhibitions and museums and filled our home with books on classical and modern art. He also gave me many of his art materials, which became my first tools for creativity. I’m deeply grateful to him for immersing me in this world. I always knew I would become an artist—it was never a question. I dedicated myself to studying academic art, including drawing, painting, composition, and anatomy. I was incredibly passionate, and art became a way to express my thoughts and feelings. Although I’m not currently drawing, I may return to it someday.

How did you learn to ‘own your glow’?

The modeling industry values uniqueness and a distinctive edge more than conventional beauty. Many incredibly beautiful people struggle to present themselves. This skill comes from knowing who you are and embracing what sets you apart. Owning your glow is essential—it will shine through your work and light up the space around you.

Why should you believe in the kindness of strangers?

I always choose to believe in the good—it is a mindset that works best for me. The same goes for people I don’t know. I don’t dwell on whether they’re good or not; instead, I prepare myself mentally and emotionally to believe nothing bad will happen to me.

What change do you want to see in yourself and the world?

I want world peace. War is the worst thing that can happen. Personally, I want to be more patient with myself in achieving my goals. Good results take time.

What’s one of your core memories from childhood?

I was always Daddy’s little girl, spending most of my time by his side. He often took me on motorcycle rides, and I especially loved the thrill of racing down the expressway with him. Those moments gave me my first real taste of freedom.

top CULT FORM
skirt NICKLAS SKOVGAARD
tights WOLFORD
shoes AEYDE
accessoires CELINE

photographer PER APPELGREN
creative + art direction STUDIO NONSENS / STEFANIE SCHELLWIES + LISANNE KURTH
talent YULIA PAVLEN
styling NESSIE
hair MASAYUKI YUASA using Less is More Organic Cosmetic
make up LEE HYANGSOON using Gucci Beauty
production ENLIL via AVEC NOUS BERLIN
moving image METTE NORDVIG
light LIAM MULLIGAN
digi TOBIAS ORTMANN
social KARLA SCHRADI
retouch ROMARIO MAHEER

production coordination + booking lemilestudios

first published
LE MILE Ephemeral Edition Nr. 39 (2025)

PiTA *Sacred Territories

PiTA
*Sacred Territories

written + interview MARK ASHKINS

PiTA’s work is a current, an unseen force moving through space, unbound by time. Her process is a pulse, a frequency felt in the marrow, where every action is a spell cast in movement and form. There is no arrival, only the endless unfolding of what has already begun.

Her hands know the weight of inheritance. Walking barefoot on sun-scorched mountains, mapping invisible lines between body and land, she stitches the air with numerology’s unseen architecture. Symbols dictate rhythm, thread extends beyond the edge, fabric refuses to end. The act of making is the act of knowing, of returning to a knowledge that has never left.

Each piece, each ceremony, each moment is a gesture—a call and an answer, happening in the same breath. The body is an archive, a site of memory and inscription, absorbing and releasing. The loom moves, the body bends, the weave extends beyond its last stitch. PiTA opens a space where time moves differently, where the act of creation is simply what must be done.


“My stories have never been easy—marked by violence, discrimination, and pain. But my body, unlike any other love, taught me how to love.”

PiTA speaks with Mark Ashkins
for LE MILE Ephemeral Edition - SS 2025 Nr. 38

Mark Ashkins
From curating events to creating designs—where does the pulse of your creativity hit hardest? In the planning, the making, or that fleeting moment it al comes alive?

PiTA
When a baby was born in our family, my maternal great-grandmother always gifted a gold jewel to the newborn, believing that gold repels bad energies. That jewel became an amulet of protection and good fortune. I return to that symbolic act as a reminder of the power of intention, of the way objects carry energy. I feel deeply connected to creation through my body—my uterus, my chest. Each project, whether it’s shaping the atmosphere of a ceremony, weaving a sculpture from two hundred meters of cempasúchil flowers, or walking, unclothed in soul and skin, through the mountains to be photographed, becomes a small birth. I rest, live, and nourish myself in these moments.

Your connection to the land and community in Oaxaca feels like the heartbeat of your work. How does that bond weave itself into your creative world?

To help my body form the arch of my feet, my father took me every afternoon to walk across mountains of hot earth. That was my initiation, my connection to the land, my integration into the rituals of my community. My work is self-referential. I open what is inside me, decontextualizing what has always existed in a fixed place.

Numerology feels like a hidden map. How do its patterns and symbols shape the way you see or create?

Inherited wisdom and the numbers of my birth date form a path that guides my intuition. I also find guidance in textiles—their numerical patterns, sequences, and rhythms. I work with a weaving technique that restores the soul, a symbol of second chances. In Oaxaca’s prisons, this technique is taught to those deprived of liberty. From behind bars, they weave bags that their families sell to sustain themselves. Traditionally called the ‘basket weaving technique,’ I call it ‘infinite weaving’ because it is a spiral with no true end. The illusion of completion exists, but in reality, the weave always has the potential to continue.

jewelry LODEPECH

“Each project, whether it’s shaping the atmosphere of a ceremony, weaving a sculpture from two hundred meters of cempasúchil flowers, or walking, unclothed in soul and skin, through the mountains to be photographed, becomes a small birth.”

PiTA speaks with Mark Ashkins
for LE MILE Ephemeral Edition - SS 2025 Nr. 38

Using your body as a canvas and a voice—what have you learned about the stories it holds and the spaces it occupies?

My nature provokes. It reveals what others carry within them while expanding what I carry inside myself. My stories have never been easy—marked by violence, discrimination, and pain. But my body, unlike any other love, taught me how to love. Through loving myself, I came to understand all bodies as sacred territories, deserving of honor, dignity, freedom, and respect.

Your events are caled ‘unrepeatable experiences.’ How do you create something that leaves a permanent mark?

Life is an unrepeatable experience—shifting, filled with characters, emotions, scenarios, loves. If I had to illustrate the surreal, fleeting nature of the human universe, I would point to a painting by the Oaxacan artist Rodolfo Morales, where all realities coexist, happening simultaneously. I open my own universe with love and honesty, stepping with respect and without judgment into the open universe of others.

How do you create space for stillness and generosity amid the constant rush and noise?

I come from a family of farmers. Cultivating plants instilled patience, the wisdom of giving, and the humility of receiving. Living alongside plants, following their cycles, develops an intuition aligned with the rhythm of the earth—one that mirrors our own human cycles. From my family, I’ve learned that there is a time and a season for everything, that nature dictates when to move forward and when to pause, and that to understand what is inside, one must observe what is outside.

Your designs carry the soul of tradition, but they slip effortlessly into the now. How do you move between these two worlds without losing their essence?

My grandfather and father passed down a gift to me—the ability to walk without getting lost. They travel from town to town, mountain to mountain, guided only by intuition. I walk constantly. My feet are my preferred mode of transport, carrying me into the unknown. I find joy in what is unfamiliar, spending much of my time there, in the other. Yet, I always find my way back to my own.

Art often walks the line between rebelion and preservation. Where does your work sit in that conversation?

Being and doing are woven from the same thread—the one that connects past and future through the present. I have always been rooted, untamed, and free. These traits shaped my childhood and continue to define my existence. Nothing should take away our freedom.

Which designer or brand feels like a mirror to your vision—timeless, but alive in the moment?

Salo Shayo—friend, visionary, and resident designer of Mexico City. His last collection, New Ode, was a love letter to pre-Hispanic and contemporary Mexico. Through ten symbolic outfits, he captured the fusion of all of Mexico’s eras—those that have passed, the one we live in now, and, seductively, a glimpse of those yet to come.

What’s a recent fashion show, colection, or creative moment that made you stop and feel something real?

A Lucha Libre presentation at the iconic San Francisco Arena in Oaxaca. Lucha Libre is a ritual, a spectacle—martial arts fused with acrobatics, theater, and maximalist fashion. When the wrestlers enter the ring, they walk a perfect balance on the ropes, wearing masks that conceal their identity, costumes that radiate vibrancy—sequins, iridescent fabrics, bold colors. But these garments mean nothing without the force, the character, the life the fighters infuse them with. Choosing a mask and costume is a profound decision. Every shape, texture, and symbol is selected with care, for they will accompany the wrestler throughout their career. That level of intention, that search for something so deeply aligned with one's true self, moves me. Even as time passes and things change, that essence remains, unwavering in its truth.

model PITA ANTONIO VELASCO
photography TATSUMI MILORI
styling + creative direction EVA BERNAL

SADIQ DESH *Sheer Delight

SADIQ DESH
*Sheer Delight

written CHIDOZIE OBASI

As a creative fresh into his path whilst showing a patience that equates to burgeoning success, 29-year-old Sadiq Desh isn’t ready to rest on his laurels just yet.

“Over the last year, I’ve had some firsts!” he exclaimed, adding that “I saw a lot of me honing on my social media style and modeling.” Born in Nigeria and now hailed in Berlin, he finished high school and moved to Canada to pursue his Bachelor’s degree, working in finance for a year before switching to the fashion sector.

Desh deems Canada “a small market,” so it wasn't until the pandemic when he moved to Berlin and started gaining more of a following on social media that he ventured into the creative world. On the impact of industry, he speaks candidly about the complexities of the system. “It still goes in waves I think,” he opines. “Just being in Germany, across the fashion scope and within the influencer community there isn’t much inclusion, which is why I'm happy independent outlets — like yours — exist and represent people who look like me, because there’s media that keep using influencers or models who look exact same, so seeing that is always a bit frustrating because they could maybe tap out of their usual zone and give people a different dimension of what they do rather than using the same kind of boys all the time,” he adds.

“Sometimes there’s things that people do that make you feel like you don't belong in a certain room… you can definitely tell when people feel entitled because of their ego.”

Sadiq Desh speaks with Chidozie Obasi
for LE MILE .Digital

Moving on to representation, Desh believes that there can still be more profiles like him in the industry. “I still think there’s things that can be done, as there’s still moments where I don’t feel like I'm being respected or treated a certain way, especially in the influencer market where you’re dealing with people with egos and followers,” he shares. “Sometimes there’s things that people do that make you feel like you don't belong in a certain room, and whether it's consciously or unconsciously you can definitely tell when people feel entitled because of their ego. I just always want to make people feel welcome no matter what level of popularity they have.” His transition to being just a set fixture to appearing on socials happened out of the blue in 2017, because the first big fashion brand that invited him was Gucci and he attended their small activation, which led to expanding his career.

But there’s more to the story. “The positives of this job is that obviously you’re lucky enough to make a living out of it, which I think in the bigger scope of things is kind of crazy that you just have this social media profile on a platform and you’re able to profit from it,” he shares. “But I think the benefits for me have been that I was able to have an avenue to meet more people and get educated on things I probably wouldn't have been educated on in other areas. Obviously the downfall with that is if you’re ignorant over certain things and you’re putting stuff out there—and it's perhaps not the right connotation—you could get some backlash as there’s no learning curve or there’s no room for learning when you have such a platform, so you kind of have to take things as they come.”

cardigan MOSCHINO
shirt DIOR MEN
shorts FENDI
tie PAUL SMITH
necklaces LAG World

top FERRAGAMO
brown vest DOLCE&GABBANA
white shirt MANUEL RITZ
pants PAUL SMITH
loafers CHURCH’S

total look MIU MIU

“What keeps me grounded is the urge to resonate with what’s authentic to me… not just the monetary gain, but what feels authentically delightful to me.”

Sadiq Desh speaks with Chidozie Obasi
for LE MILE .Digital

total look LORO PIANA

total look VALENTINO

sweater + shirt + tie PAUL SMITH
pants ZEGNA
shoes SEBAGO

Desh has always taken a personal approach within his platforms. “I mostly gain traction because of my thoughts on things and obviously fashion but my personal say about topics or how I’m feeling is what keeps people,” he opines, reflecting on the notion of authenticity. “I think it's a double-edged sword, because one wants to be authentic, but then people have a short attention span on the internet so one minute you're viral and the next minute you’re forgotten,” he concludes. “What keeps me grounded is the urge to resonate with what’s authentic to me, and to be honest sometimes I've lost that because of the commercial process of social media; however, what I've been pushing forward since last year is not just the monetary gain, but what feels authentically delightful to me.”

blazer JIL SANDER by Lucie and Luke Meier
sweater CANALI
shirt ALESSANDRO GHERARDI
pants MEIMEIJ
loafer CHURCH’S

blazer ISABEL MARANT
shirt DIOR Men
pants JIL SANDER by Lucie and Luke Meier
shoes FERRAGAMO

photography ANTONIO CROTTI   
fashion director + stylist CHIDOZIE OBASI   
head of production JESSICA LOVATO   
fashion coordinator LUCA MICELI   
make up AMY KOUROUMA via WM MANAGEMENT using Nabla Cosmetics   
hair ALICE FANTINI using Davines   
talent SADIQ DESH   
set design IRENE COVERI
fashion assistants LORIS VOTTERO + CLOE RUBINATO + ANNA REGAZZONI + JORDAN MAX BAGLIONI + ALBERTO MICHISANTI + MARTINA MANENTI + MARTINA MUSMARRA + EDWARD PUSCA  

ALI GUTY *Action of Becoming

ALI GUTY
*Action of Becoming

written + interview MARK ASHKINS

Ali Guty arrives in a way that makes arrival feel like an outdated concept, because she’s already in the room before she steps into it, already occupying the gaze before the lens has the nerve to blink, already shaping the air before the stylists even begin to fuss with the hem of anything, because presence doesn’t begin or end, it spills, it stretches, it slips under doors and over walls and between the seams of whatever someone once tried to call fashion, or work, or image, or identity.

There is a pace to her, the kind that folds time in on itself, the kind that turns a set into a stage into a space into a world where cameras become guests and nothing—absolutely nothing—is static, because static things break and Ali doesn’t do broken, she does bending, reshaping, reworking, reappearing, again and again and again, in forms that flicker just long enough to be felt but never long enough to be held.

Fashion loves a narrative but she refuses punctuation, lets the story spill out of her limbs, her shoulders, her neck, the angle of her jaw in late afternoon shadow, and there is always shadow, and there is always light, and between the two she moves like she invented both, like someone who doesn’t need costume or cue because expression lives in the body, and hers writes paragraphs in silk, in denim, in latex and cotton, in things you forgot were supposed to be clothes because they start to feel more like skin or muscle or the inside of a thought that never needed words.

dress ONRUSH

There was Jean Paul Gaultier, of course there was, because some people spot truth without needing it explained, because identity comes to some as intuition and others through decades of misdirection, and Ali holds it with the kind of grip that just rests firm, like someone who’s never had to borrow power because hers came with a fuse already lit.

There are shoots, there are rooms, there are teams and tables and call sheets and sponsored water bottles, but also—there’s motion, breath, the way her hand interrupts the air and tells it to pay attention, and it does, and so does everyone else, because rhythm doesn’t require music and energy doesn’t request permission, and when presence hums, everything else becomes chorus. So she moves—forward, outward, upward, inward, all at once, without a map, without a pause, into the spaces that recognise her even before she’s named them, because naming is for those who need labels, and Ali has already lived the thing.

dress LARHHA

Mark Ashkins
What’s the frst fashion moment that made you stop and think—this is where I belong?

Ali Guty
Refecting on my journey in the fashion industry, there was a moment that made me think, “This is where I belong.” It was the realization of how beauty standards are manipulated, and how, depending on the prevailing trends, one’s body type can be in Vogue or sidelined. The resurgence of 2000s fashion has brought back the ultra-thin ideals of that era, sidelining curvier fgures that once gained acceptance. I don’t like to see how our bodies are treated as mere trends, leading to a draining experience where opportunities diminish for those who don’t ft the “regular” model mold.

The cyclical nature of fashion trends often leads to the resurgence of past styles. The return of Y2K aesthetics brings back not only the fashion but also the body ideals associated with that era. This can perpetuate a narrow standard of beauty, sidelining those who don’t conform to these ideals. It’s essential to challenge these patterns and advocate for a more inclusive approach that celebrates all body types. Our presence and voices are essential in challenging these standards, advocating for genuine representation, and ensuring that fashion celebrates diversity in all its forms.

You move between high fashion and commercial work efortlessly. Is there one space where you feel most challenged?

I honestly enjoy both high fashion and commercial work, and I think they both bring something valuable to my experience as a model. Commercial work is very structured, there’s a clear order to follow, and everything is carefully planned to appeal to a specifc audience. I appreciate that because it teaches me discipline, adaptability, and how to work within a well-defned framework. It’s a great learning experience.
That being said, I feel more at home in high fashion. It’s where I feel the most creative freedom, where I can move, express myself, and contribute my voice. There are fewer limitations, and it’s not necessarily about making something that “makes sense” for a broad audience—it can be abstract, experimental, or even purely artistic. That level of creative expression is something I truly love.

So while I enjoy both worlds, I’d say I feel the most comfortable and fulflled in high fashion and editorial work.

If you could only wear one designer for the rest of your life, who would it be and why?

Jean Paul Gaultier is the frst high fashion brand that truly believed in me. I love the team, their values, and the community they’ve built. It’s a brand that feels full of life, authenticity, and meaning. JPG vibes deeply with the way I express myself and how I experience love, friendship, strength, and the divinity within me. There’s an undeniable sense of empowerment in everything the brand represents, and that’s exactly why I love it. If I had to choose one brand to wear for the rest of my life, it would be Jean Paul Gaultier, without a doubt. It gives me that strength and confdence that makes me feel like the woman I am.

shoes COPERNI

“Our bodies are treated as mere trends, leading to a draining experience where opportunities diminish for those who don’t fit the ‘regular’ model mold.”

Ali Guty speaks with Mark Ashkins
for LE MILE Ephemeral Edition - SS 2025 Nr. 38

Fashion thrives on the ephemeral. Do you see that as liberating or unsettling?

Both. The feeting nature of things can feel unsettling because nothing is permanent, but at the same time, it’s incredibly liberating. It reminds us that nothing is ever too serious everything fades, shifts, and transforms. Life itself is ephemeral. We try to hold on to control, to certainty, but the truth is, everything around us is constantly evolving: fashion, culture, our personal lives… Instead of resisting change, I think there’s power in embracing it, in letting it inspire us rather than unsettle us. Fashion is a refection of this fuidity, an invitation to play, reinvent, and move with the rhythm of time.

What’s a trend you loved but knew wouldn’t last?

The clean girl look, with glossy skin, laminated eyebrows, and polished buns dominate but fashion always oscillates between the immaculate and the maximalist. Life as trends are cyclical as we already mentioned, so what’s next?

The industry is fast, demanding, sometimes unforgiving. What keeps you grounded in it?

I know it's easy for me because I'm the same person in my personal life and working as a model, I have fun working while creating timeless art and memories that last forever. It's the way I express myself and I don't take everything so seriously, but the most important thing for me is to connect with others while working and inspire others along the way. The industry can be demanding, but I choose to see it as a moving space where there's always something new to discover. It anchors me in the idea that at the end of the day, the most important thing is to enjoy the process. I have friends who work in the industry and friends who have nothing to do with the fashion world, and I find balance in the people around me as well because they keep me connected to both realities.

People assume modeling is just about being in front of the camera. What’s the part of the job that no one sees?

What many don't see is the connection you build with people on set. It's not just about being in front of the camera, but about contributing creatively. Every day it feels frst day at work and also I love that. Sometimes, you're given the freedom to add ideas and be part of the creative process because, as the main character, you also have a voice. You're more than just a body; you have personality, opinions, and things to say. That’s how I experience modeling because of who I am and the way I approach it.
But there’s also a lot that goes on behind the scenes. The time spent alone, the rejection, the uncertainty. You never really know what will happen until the last moment in your life plans, and the idea of long-term planning in this industry is almost impossible. It’s an unpredictable journey, where you have to embrace the unknown and trust that each step leads to something new, even if you can’t always see the bigger picture. A LOOOOOOT of faith in the process.

If you weren’t in fashion, where would your creativity take you?

TV host, actress, casting director, model agent…There are things I still think about today. But most of my thoughts are still around the fashion industry.

Social media can turn a face into a brand overnight. How do you define success beyond the numbers?

For me, expressing yourself in a way that both inspires and allows you to be inspired is everything. It’s the heart of why I love social media and connecting with others. Social media gave me a lot of opportunities to be seen frst that model agencies for example did, it was where all it began. The true reward comes from using your success to create something meaningful that positively impacts those around you. It's about using your power and your voice for good and making a diference.

Is there something next already planned, or are you letting the moment decide?

This year, I decided to surrender to the process and let life take me a little, without planning too much, leaving many doors open to new possibilities. A few months ago, I started an acting course, and I’m excited about it. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, but I always have new concerns and new things to learn that will help me grow both as a person and as a professional. There is a saying in Spain: “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.” This refects the idea that life doesn’t come with a pre-determined path; it’s created through the actions we take, the choices we make, and the steps we choose to follow.

coat NEXT COUTURE
shoes COPERNI

shoes COPERNI

model ALICIA GUTIÉRREZ via JAG MODELS
photography + creative direction ARDEN
styling SERGI PADIAL
styling assistant PAULA SÁNCHEZ
retouch ISMAEL VILLAR
set design JORGE GARCÍA

set assistant BLANCA DE LA CIERVA
film developing + scanning CUARTO COLOR LAB
photo assistant NANO HERNÁNDEZ
second photo assistant MARINNA BORHAN
location RUGE STUDIO