Edward Enninful: 'I was told diversity equals downmarket at Condé Nast. My Vogue proved them wrong'

Edward Enninful OBE, just two months out of the top job at British Vogue, is already candidly reminiscing on his tenure as the magazine’s final editor-in-chief.“Someone at Condé Nast told me diversity equals downmarket,” he told industry insiders (and his coterie of models and marchionesses, counting Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn and Emma Thynn) during a British Society of Magazine Editors’ lunch at Rosewood London on Friday. “My Vogue proved them wrong.”

Relaxed, and having swapped his suit blazer for a black Barbour wax jacket, the editor said he was proud to have swerved newsstand appeal in favour of his principles. “It's my duty as an editor to sometimes challenge the notion of sales,” he said. “When I put a model on the cover, it's not going to have the same attraction as Billie Eilish but it needs to be done to support the fashion industry. When you put Malala on the cover, you know she will not sell as well as Rihanna, but it's our duty to show women who are out there fighting.”

Enninful’s first cover of Adwoa Aboah, for December 2018, and his 75 issues that followed have gone down as a turning point in representation in the industry. “Vogue is the best magazine in the world and I wanted to create one where everybody can see themselves: whether you're gay, whether you come from Brixton or Tottenham, whether parents are not the richest,” he said. “I grew up in Notting Hill with Rastafarians and aristocrats –  that's something I've always had as part of my DNA and I’ve been able to show a world where everybody is kind of equal.”

Chioma Nnadi has taken his place in a newly titled role, Head of Editorial content, while Enninful has stepped into a new global position at Condé Nast. “A few people have approached me for jobs, but I need a break,” he said. Just don’t call him idle. “I really don’t like laziness,” he said, saying he still wakes up at 5am. Well, you can take the man out of Vogue House.