A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, maybe even sweeter. So yes, MINI V has become GEN V.

Like, whatever. Things change.

In fact, change is the very thing GEN V captures. It is a snapshot of creativity in motion—actors, musicians, models, artists, chefs, and social media stars in the midst of metamorphosing their careers and industries. There is a strong sense of evolution and growth—a rose leaning into the sunlight to flourish.

But what is GEN V? It is a generation, but an unrestricted one—anyone can have le gen V, or “V gene” as they say in French. It’s a nod to generating creativity, to genius, to the full range of genders. It is the slightly grit-tier, younger sibling to V and VMAN, influenced by the intersection of subcultures and high fashion.

For our third issue (and first under our new name), we tapped the industry’s most-hyped photographer of the moment, Jack Bridgland, to capture a roster of cover stars vying to be tomorrow’s global superstars: Vinnie Hacker, Rachel Sennott, Gracie Abrams, Georgia Palmer, and William Gao. We considered the ages-old notion of fame as a game you play, casting each of these icons-in-training as characters in a Mortal Kombat-esque world. Pretty accurate depiction of Hollywood, tbh.

Throughout this issue, you’ll find other “players,” such as the actors in our INGÉNUS series (a recurring casting of budding talent), a digitized makeup story with pop star Nessa Barrett and digital artist Pol Kurucz, and, of course, this issue’s Contributing Guest Editor, TikTok’s one and only Aliyah Bah (@aliyahsinterlude).

We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed generating it.

—Mathias Rosenzweig (Editor-in-Chief, GEN V)