Edward Enninful

Edward Kobina Enninful (born 22 February 1972) is a Ghanaian-born British editor and stylist who was the editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the European editorial director of Condé Nast.

He was appointed fashion director of the British fashion magazine i-D at the age of 18, a position he held for more than two decades.

He subsequently held the positions of contributing fashion editor at Vogue Italia and American Vogue, as well as creative fashion director at W magazine.

Edward Enninful was born in Ghana on 22 February 1972.

He was the fifth of six children born to Ghana Army officer Major Crosby Enninful.

In 1985, after a coup d'état which deposed President Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, Enninful's family emigrated to England, settling down in the London neighbourhood of Ladbroke Grove.

His mother worked as a seamstress, and she inspired him with the vividly patterned colours and fabrics she used while creating clothing for her British-Ghanaian friends.

At the age of 16, Enninful was spotted on a train by stylist Simon Foxton.

A few weeks later, he was shooting with Foxton at his house, along with Nick Knight, the cofounder and photographer of bimonthly magazine i-D.

By the age of 17, he had been introduced to Terry Jones, another cofounder of i-D, and soon began assisting the magazine's fashion director Beth Summers.

He finished college, earning a degree at Goldsmiths, University of London, while juggling his modeling career and assisting on shoots with Foxton and Summers.

The looks he featured in his stories helped fuel the grunge movement during the early 1990s.

In 1998, Enninful became a contributing editor to Italian Vogue.

According to Enninful, working with Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani and photographer Steven Meisel propelled him to mature as a stylist.

"I always say that I was a London stylist but when I worked with Steven, I became a proper stylist."

Among his achievements at Italian Vogue, perhaps the most notable project Enninful spearheaded during his time at the publication was the production of its "Black Issue".

The "Black Issue" featured only black models, including Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn and Alek Wek to showcase and celebrate black models and black women in the worlds of art, politics and entertainment.

He described his intention as ending the "white-out that dominates the catwalks and magazines".

The issue was so successful that it sold out in the U.S. and U.K. within 72 hours, leading Condé Nast to print an additional 40,000 copies.

In 2006, Enninful became contributing fashion editor for American Vogue.

He can be seen in the documentary "The September Issue".

For the March 2009 issue of i-D Magazine, Enninful styled "The Best British" cover story by photographer Sølve Sundsbø.

The issue printed 12 separate covers, each featuring one of twelve British supermodels, including Jourdan Dunn, Kate Moss, Susie Bick, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant, Eliza Cummings, Alice Dellal, Daisy Lowe, Twiggy, Yasmin Le Bon, Lily Donaldson, and Agyness Deyn.

While the magazine was suffering in 2010, amid a brutal recession and competition from V magazine and Interview magazine, W began showing signs of life after Enninful's takeover.

Enninful also styled the magazine's highly publicized June 2011 cover editorial, "Belle Vere", which exclusively featured plus-sized models including Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine, and Robyn Lawley.

In 2011, Enninful was tapped to take the style directorship at W, a high-end Condé Nast title that had struggled in the late 2000s.

For the magazine's November 2011 art issue, Enninful collaborated with Steven Meisel on a series of fake advertisements that ran throughout the magazine, including one that featured a drag queen contestant from RuPaul's Drag Race named Carmen Carrera hawking a fictitious fragrance called La Femme.

Under Enninful's direction, W generated considerable attention for its riskier editorial, including the March 2012 cover shot by Steven Klein featuring Kate Moss depicted as a nun as well as another cover featuring singer Nicki Minaj dolled up as an 18th-century French courtesan.

The magazine's ad pages went up 16.7 percent by May 2012, with 453 pages compared to 388 pages for the same period the year before, according to Media Industry Newsletter—the biggest year-over-year gain among fashion titles.

Editorial Director Stefano Tonchi told The New York Times that Enninful was a big part of that success.

Enninful was appointed editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017 but stepped down in 2023.

Enninful was confirmed as the new editor-in-chief of British Vogue on 10 April 2017, making him the first black editor-in-chief of the magazine.

Condé Nast International chairman and chief executive Jonathan Newhouse announced him as the successor to Alexandra Shulman, calling Enninful "an influential figure in the communities of fashion, Hollywood and music which shape the cultural zeitgeist", adding that "by virtue of his talent and experience, Edward is supremely prepared to assume the responsibility of British Vogue".

Since Enninful took the creative reins, he has aimed to reshape a century-old publication and transform it into a contemporary fashion platform that is more reflective of the current global audience.

His efforts have led to a 51 percent increase in digital traffic since he took over in 2017 and led to signing 140 new advertisers.

Summers left the magazine a few weeks after Enninful's 18th birthday, and Terry Jones gave Enninful the position.

At the age of 18, Enninful's position as fashion director at i-D made him the youngest-ever fashion director for an international publication.

He quickly became known for his edgy elegance, which ultimately became his trademark.

Much of his inspiration came from the streets: "We British have to customize our clothes, we have to be more creative, informing who you are—and I am still obsessed with the streets."

Furthermore, while other publications, including American Vogue, reduced frequency during the 2020 pandemic, British Vogue remained financially stable and continued to produce 12 thick issues.