Edward Enninful
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Edward Enninful

Fashion Editor
 
b. February 22, 1972

"I like to play with contrast. It's about changing people's perceptions of people.”

Edward Enninful is the editorial and creative advisor to Vogue magazine and the founder and CEO of the media firm EE72. A fashion-industry pioneer, he was the youngest person to serve as fashion director of an international publication and the first Black man to serve as editor in chief of British Vogue.

Born in Ghana, Enninful is the fifth child of an army officer and a seamstress. He first learned about fashion through his mother’s work. When he was 13, the family moved to West London, England. 

In 1988, Simon Foxton, a creative consultant and fashion director for i-D magazine, spotted Enninful on a train and soon hired him to model. Because Ghanaian society is notoriously hostile to LGBTQ+ people, their sexuality is kept secret. Foxton was the first openly gay person Enninful ever encountered. 

While shooting with Foxton, Enninful met the cofounders of i-D. Two years later, he was assisting Beth Summers, the publication’s fashion director. When Summers left in 1991, 18-year-old Enninful took over, making history as the youngest fashion director of an international publication. He soon earned a reputation for his elegant take on edgy street-style fashion.

In the 1990s, Enninful met Alec Maxwell, an intern at the studio of the renowned fashion designer Amanda Wakeley, and the two became lifelong romantic partners. Enninful came out as gay in 1993. 

In 1998, Italian Vogue hired Enninful as a contributing editor. He became a contributing fashion editor for American Vogue in 2006 and then, in 2011, the style director for W Magazine, a struggling Condé Nast publication. He reinvigorated W with sexually charged layouts featuring celebrities like Nicki Minaj and photography by industry superstars like Steven Meisel and Steven Klein. Enninful became one of the world’s most sought-after stylists.

British Vogue named Enninful its editor in chief in 2017. He is the first male, the first Black person, and the first out gay person ever to hold the position. In this new role, he championed greater diversity and inclusion in fashion — both in the magazine and in its creation. He commissioned Misan Harriman to shoot a cover in 2020, making Harriman the first Black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover. 

Enninful’s latest incarnation came about in 2025, when he and his sister, Akua, established EE72, a global entertainment and media firm. The venture launched with a print magazine and digital platform focused on the intersection of culture, beauty, fashion, and luxury. 

On Enninful’s 50th birthday, he and Maxwell married in Wiltshire, England. The couple lives in West London.