Edward Enninful is trying to rebuild his career or do something new. Two years ago, he left British Vogue after a six-year stint as editor-in-chief which revolutionized the magazine. Before Enninful, British Vogue was pretty staid and not inclusive in the least. Enninful put women of color on the cover, he brought in the Duchess of Sussex to guest-edit the magazine (in what would become the highest-selling issue in the mag’s history), and he prioritized global fashion and more international models. It’s widely believed that Enninful left British Vogue after he made a play to replace Anna Wintour and he got outmaneuvered. Whatever happened, Enninful is only hinting at it these days. He’s launched his own media company, EE72, and he’s launched a new quarterly magazine, 72 (his birth year is 1972). To promote the new venture, Enninful gave a lengthy interview to the Times of London, and it’s worth talking about some of these quotes.
He doesn’t blame Anna Wintour for his departure from Conde Nast. “I feel I really changed Vogue, and my work was pretty much done. I’ll have fond memories but I was never going to do a lifetime’s service. I couldn’t have done what Anna has done.”
He swears he hasn’t fallen out with Wintour. “I text a bit. I had a great run at Vogue. I’m different; I don’t have rules. I have boundaries, but I allow creative freedom. I have no forbidden colours, though I don’t embrace colour myself. I prefer to hide and get on with the job.” What about British Vogue’s new head of editorial content, Chioma Nnadi? “She’s very competent,” he says, as icy as Wintour suddenly.
He isn’t focused on class: “I love King Charles and Queen Camilla — I went to the coronation with Katy Perry. I am happy to have them in the magazine. They care about the same things I do.”
The rise of sexism: “Women constantly need to be vigilant, and I am there for the fight. There is the manosphere, but that is not my world or reality — Andrew Tate is not my thing. But I think we must meet the young on their platforms to counter him, give them something else, more optimism. Gen Z are very interesting. They care about issues; they are curious. They need to be protected as they navigate this new online world and I want to do it with them.”
His comments about the Duchess of Sussex: That is what Enninful does so adeptly: he loves gossip, rarely falling out with celebrities in the highly fraught fashion world — the Duchess of Sussex is rumoured to be one of the few exceptions after she guest-edited the September 2019 edition of Vogue. He pauses. “Meghan and I had a great moment with the issue we did, but I feel like I have done it and I wouldn’t necessarily repeat myself.”
Leaving the EIC position after six years because he felt his work was “done”?? Bizarre. Whatever happened – and we still don’t know – it feels less Game of Thrones and more like The Office, you know? Just petty office politics rather than a larger falling out. As for what he says about Meghan… curious wording from the Times and curious wording from Enninful. Earlier this year, there were some really odd stories about Enninful and Meghan falling out in 2022 because he wouldn’t give her a British Vogue cover or something. The nonsensical stories felt like they were coming from Enninful’s camp or they were happening with his approval. I strongly suspect that Enninful asked Meghan for a favor (something like, “will you appear on the cover, it would really help me out”) and she said no. I suspect that because he’s behaving like HE got jilted. Honestly, his public insistence that he doesn’t want Meghan for a cover shows that he’s a bad editor too, right? Like… why would you not want one of the most famous women in the world on the cover of your start-up magazine?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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