ALPHA-MEDY KABA AND MELISSA ROUILLÉ

“We’re Paris-based creatives working between image-making and visual storytelling. Alpha-Medy explores photography through fashion, portraiture and visual archives, deeply inspired by his French-Ivorian heritage. Melissa approaches hair instinctively as a living material, shaped by identity and cultural references rooted in her mother’s hair salon in Kumasi. Together, we’re drawn to creating images that feel strangely familiar in a contemporary way.

“The idea for Poster Girls started a year ago, when Mel suggested a project around Afro hair salon posters: visual archives filled with icons who have long driven global hair culture. We wanted to revisit this familiar language with care and a touch of irony. What began as a playful hair lookbook quickly evolved into a deeper cultural commentary. By replacing traditional pop stars with our own generation of originators, the Paris youth and creatives who inspire us, we created a tribute to our community. Without this blend, the final imagery wouldn’t have the same soul.

“Poster Girls is about representation in a deeply lived and emotional way – that moment when you recognise your own references inside an image. While hair is the starting point, the project speaks to diasporic social identity. We wanted the images to feel specific and timeless enough for people to immediately connect with them beyond nostalgia. The grid format brings these identities together, building a bridge that creates a collective archive, which is exactly what we strive for in our work.

“Our work is driven by creative obsession. We share a deep influence from African cinema, late-90s and 00s MTV and R&B video aesthetics, inclusivity and versatility. We believe in a creative law of attraction: being fully immersed in an idea naturally attracts the exact people needed to turn that vision into a story.

“From 4 to 7 June, Melissa will show Akosua, a project shot in Ghana, at Sheriff Gallery. During Men’s FW on 26 and 27 June, we’ll launch Poster Girls prints and video at Union Jeunesse Internationale. Come say hi and grab your Poster Girls print!”

TATE SCHMERGEL

“I’m a designer and storyteller working between Paris and New York. My creative universe, tr@$h, sits at the intersection of fashion, archives, and consumer detritus — building garments and objects that treat waste, data, and daily residue as emotional material.

“What began as a school project on the creation of a personal shirt, I took into my own hands to create something bigger. Transparent Archives depicts clothing as a vessel for everything we accumulate and quietly forget. I built my shirt like a swollen data container: binary codes, warped stripes, elongated shapes, and plastic pockets acting as storage units. The concept came from noticing how receipts, pill packets, barcodes, and error messages trail us — tiny proofs of living that form an accidental autobiography.

“I’m shaped by consumer culture, media and memoirs, early‑2000s tech ephemera, counterfeit economies, Paris–New York street logic, and the emotional weight of objects. Visually [I‘m inspired by] obsolete tech campaigns, archival systems, glitches and errors, nostalgia, packaging design, and the quiet poetry of things that were never meant to be saved... all things tr@$h.

“My scene is the street – Canal Street, Pigalle, Melrose, wherever people are hustling, trading, remixing, consuming. I call on a global network of friends and muses scattered across NYC, Paris, London, LA, and Denver, all of us united by a compulsive need to collect, archive, and make. My family is its own creative engine, especially the women – teaching me confidence, intuition and maximalism. Basically, if someone is obsessed with consumption, nostalgia, or the emotional life of objects, they’re already in my scene.

“I just launched my website, www.tatestrash.com. I’m developing the next chapter of my tr@$h universe – expanding the counterfeit bag project and building new editorial work around wearable archives. I’m also recruiting for fashion and creative jobs in NYC, so hit me up!”

EMILY BROWNETT

“I’m Emily Brownett, a Ghanaian photographer and visual artist based in Accra. I create images that blend fashion photography with storytelling, using colour and textured backgrounds to bring out the essence of my subjects. My creative approach combines planning with improvisation. I often let the environment and the moment guide my direction, believing some of the best ideas happen on set with what’s at hand.

“My work is focused on capturing authentic moments and telling stories through portraits. I’m inspired by the beauty of my Ghanaian surroundings, using vibrant colours and textures that connect my subjects to their environment. Whether I’m working on personal projects or commissions, I always aim to show the real, unfiltered side of my culture and the people in it.

“My creative scene is anywhere I can find texture and colour – be it the sky, roads, everyday objects, or the lively streets of Accra. I scout locations for backgrounds that match my ideas and, even in the studio, strive to bring in colour or gradients for vibrancy. I often collaborate with fellow creatives in Ghana, from stylists to musicians, who share my vision for authentic and expressive images.

“Currently, I’m working on a collaborative project with Wearedreamstudios, focused on images that resonate with Ghanaian culture, as well as collaborations with musicians BiQo and Efia Odo. I’m also developing a personal series exploring contrasts in texture and background.”

AARONY BAILEY AND AYIESHA SANKOH, SOFTER HARDER

“I’m a filmmaker and photographer who captures honest and nostalgic explorations of intimacy, both platonic and romantic. From Polaroid film to digicam footage, I love unpacking femininity, sexuality, and sisterhood in today’s social climate.

“Softer Harder was an exhibition and erotic fiction night at SET Stage Gallery, curated from submissions through the Dazed Club app by myself and gallery director Ayiesha Sankoh – an emerging independent curator whose practice spans exhibition-making, performance, and sound. The show delved into sexuality, specifically female and femme expressions of intimacy through digital spaces. The idea for the event was a reaction to the current digital climate, where women are constantly left out of the conversation regarding sex and technology, yet are almost always visibly at the forefront of it.

“The night included poems, essays, and think pieces by a variety of female and femme performance artists, followed by a private viewing of the physical works on display. It was a beautiful evening of vulnerability, openness, and cultural exchange.

"I have my first solo exhibition coming up this August at Gillian Jason Gallery, curated by Teaspoon Projects, where I hope to host another erotic fiction night. The exhibition will explore sisterhood, club culture, and femininity, showcasing my photographic and video work from over the years.”