Interview, Fireside Chat
Editor Of Vogue (Edward Enninful OBE): How To Become No.1 In Your Industry Against All The Odds!
- Edward Enninful is the first Black man to serve as Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, a role he assumed in December 2017.
- He was born in Takoradi, Ghana, where his father was a Major in the army and his mother ran a successful atelier with 40 employees.
- The family moved to London when Enninful was 13 following a military coup in Ghana that forced his father to seek asylum.
- Enninful describes his childhood father as an authoritarian figure who instilled a deep fear, leading Enninful to hide his creative drawings to avoid punishment.
- He discovered his sexuality at a young age, noting his father threatened to "slit the throat" of any gay person who entered their home.
- Enninful moved to the UK at age 13, where he experienced his first exposure to institutional racism and police profiling due to the "sus laws."
- At age 16, while wearing contact lenses to improve his vision, he was discovered on a train by fashion editor Simon Foxton and recruited to model.
- He attended university to appease his father but dropped out after three months to pursue a career in fashion, leading to his father throwing his belongings out of the house.
- At age 18, he was appointed Fashion Director at ID Magazine, working as a "one-man army" handling styling, photography, shopping, and layout without an assistant.
- Enninful spent 15 years without speaking to his father after being cast out, eventually working in the industry as a "lone wolf" to replace the family dynamic.
- He admits to severe imposter syndrome, noting he rarely felt his work was "amazing" and was constantly driven by a need to improve rather than satisfaction.
- Around 2002, Enninful reached a breaking point where work-induced exhaustion led to heavy drinking, drug use, and profound loneliness.
- He lost his passport while intoxicated in the UK before a Dolce & Gabbana show in Italy, which served as a catalyst for him to seek sobriety.
- Enninful became sober for 14 years, entering Alcoholics Anonymous where he learned to serve homeless people and develop a spiritual practice.
- He suffered a detached retina, requiring five surgeries on one eye and experiencing tinnitus, which forced him to step back from work for two years.
- The health scare led to a diagnosis of PTSD regarding the fear of losing his vision, requiring extensive therapy to manage.
- Enninful cites the death of his mother in 2016 at age 44 as a major regret, realizing he spent too much time traveling and working rather than being with her.
- He joined British Vogue in 2017 with the mandate to increase diversity, directly challenging the industry norm that "women of color on covers don't sell."
- The December 2017 first issue, featuring Adwoa Aboah and dedicated to Britain, sold out immediately, proving the commercial viability of diversity.
- Enninful faced initial professional racism, including being mistaken for a delivery driver by security staff despite being the Editor-in-Chief.
- He notes that while diversity has become a "buzzword," significant challenges remain for Black and marginalized individuals in the industry.
- Enninful maintains a 21-year relationship with his husband, Alec, crediting him with helping him remain grounded and teaching him how to be a "human."
- He identifies his primary talent as "perpetual forward motion" and an inability to accept "no" as an answer.
- Enninful's closing wish is to have served as the right-hand person to Eunice W. Johnson, editor of Ebony Magazine, to fight against exclusion in fashion during the 1950s and 60s.
- He advises young people to always question "why" when told institutional rules must be followed and to avoid being distracted by naysayers.