Edward Enninful

Enninful described his brief career modeling as his "baptism into fashion". By the age of 17, he had been introduced to Trish and Terry Jones, founder of i-D magazine, and soon began assisting i-D fashion director Beth Summers. He finished college, earning a degree at Goldsmiths, University of London ("Barely, but otherwise my dad would have killed me.") while juggling his modeling career and assisting on shoots with Foxton and Summers. Summers left the magazine a few weeks after Enninful's 18th birthday, and Terry Jones gave Enninful the position.

Enninful was confirmed as the new editor-in-chief of British Vogue on 10 April 2017. 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". It was noted that Enninful had six times as many followers on Instagram as Shulman at the time of his appointment. His influence was also recognised regularly in the annual Powerlist, seeing him ranked in the Top 10 of the most influential British people of African Descent in both 2019 & 2020.

Enninful was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to diversity in the fashion industry.

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. Soon, he became known for his edgy elegance, which quickly 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." The looks he featured in his stories helped fuel the grunge movement during the early 1990s.

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.

It was announced in April 2011 that Enninful would be taking over as fashion and style-director of W, a position formerly held by Alex White. He stated in an interview to WWD, "Now I'm going to be focusing my editorial prowess on W," ending his 10-year relationship as a freelancer with American and Italian Vogue. 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. And 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 ("Isn't W Magazine the cleverest in all the land?" the fashion blog "styleite" wrote).

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. 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.

For the March 2009 issue of i-D, Enninful styled "The Best British" cover story by photographer Sølve Sundsbø. The issue printed 12 separate covers, each featuring one of twelve British super models, 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.

In 2006, Enninful became contributing fashion editor for American Vogue. He can be seen in the documentary "The September Issue".

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

Edward Kobina Enninful OBE (born February 1972) is editor-in-chief of British Vogue. He was appointed fashion director of British fashion magazine i-D at the age of 18, a position he held for over two decades.