Despite the clear style direction that would let Central Cee’s personality – and his vast Chanel jewellery collection peppered with interlocking Cs – shine, the clothes Phelan’s team called in still filled half the London studio. Cotton basics by Agolde and Calvin Klein jostled for attention next to Supreme X Nike drops, Loewe’s luxed-up sweats, silky Martine Rose separates and Off-White’s logoed hoodies. “But, in the end, he was very clear about what he liked,” asserts Phelan of the performer, for whom the tracksuit is a way of life. So wrapped up is sportswear with his personal identity that Central Cee founded his own streetwear label Syna (short for synarchy) World.
The rapper’s partner in crime on the shoot day was the Danish model Mona Tougaard, whom Phelan says was “a dream as always”, willing to pivot according to Cench’s sense of what the shoot should say. “She looked incredible in everything and wore some of the looks Central Cee didn’t like,” notes Kate of the ease with which Mona pulled off Miu Miu’s season-defining skinny jeans and Polo Ralph Lauren boxers with the same level of innate coolness that has long made her a Vogue favourite. “Every shoot is a unique experience and Central Cee and Mona define a youth and beauty about today,” adds Phelan of reflecting this energy in the pages of the magazine. A job, as always, well done.