For her first ever Dazed cover shoot, Rihanna embarks on an unforgettable witching hour rendez-vous with photographer Harley Weir — skulking around shady urban enclaves and unsupervised woodlands, steaming up the windows of parked vehicles. It’s further proof, if we needed it, of Ri’s absolute ownership of her sexuality and willingness to experiment creatively. It’s also the first in a series of intimate moments that make up our winter 2017 issue, which comes out internationally today.

Fresh from playing this year’s most perversely likeable screen psychopath in recent shocker The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Barry Keoghan in another transgressive youth icon, burying himself into parts when he’s not boxing competitively IRL. In an in-depth interview, Simran Hans meets 2018’s most fascinating screen hopeful. Then there’s King Krule, an era-defining beatnik poet whose songs of city malaise made The OOZ the year’s most sensorial and essential album. He plays cat and mouse with image-maker Frank LeBon around the London streets he documents so vividly.

Elsewhere in the issue, we introduce the young cast of TV’s supernatural sophomore smash Stranger Things 2, and the kid-stars of the revelatory The Florida Project discuss how director Sean Baker’s film shone a light on America’s “hidden homeless.” As he embarks on a new year of blockbuster parts, their Florida Project co-star Willem Dafoe reflects on his transformative career with insight from some of his most outspoken collaborators. Rounding off an issue of season-defining fashion, artist-photographer Ryan Skelton plays dress-up in Miu Miu at home in York — a hyper-surreal collision of family and fantasy.

Rihanna photographed by Harley Weir, styled by Robbie Spencer