The cover story: How British Vogue's Edward Enninful is shaking up the fashion world

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The Cover Story 'This Is Not the Time for Tiptoeing.' How British Vogue's Edward Enninful Is Shaking Up the Fashion World By Naina Bajekal Deputy International Editor, TIME As we walked up to the house in West London where Edward Enninful grew up, he pointed out the room where his mother, a seamstress, used to make clothes. "She was my ultimate hero," he said, recalling how she taught him about fabric, textures, shapes and colors, how they sketched together and scoured local London markets after the family moved from Ghana when Enninful was 13. "That's where I learned that fashion wasn't just about clothes but could tell a story of the times we're in." Enninful, now the editor in chief of British Vogue, isn't used to having his own story told. But as the first Black person to lead one of publisher Condé Nast's industry-defining fashion bibles, his personal story has proven to be just as transformative. As leaders across media, fashion and other industries grapple with this summer's reckoning over racism and representation, Enninful stands out for the work he's been doing at British Vogue since taking the helm in 2017. He has championed models, photographers, stylists and writers of color, as well as transforming the editorial team who work for him. "I knew that I had to go in there and do what I really believed in," he told us. "I guess the world was ready for change." When asked to sum up the vision he wanted to share with TIME, Enninful mentioned two words: Black and urban. So we asked journalist and author Diana Evans, whose mesmerizing novels chart the lives of Black Brits set against the cityscapes of London, to spend the afternoon with him, talking about everything from his upbringing in Ghana and West London to his time spent in the fashion trenches as a stylist. Under Enninful, Evans writes, "British Vogue has morphed from a white-run glossy of the bourgeois oblivious into a diverse and inclusive on-point fashion platform." For Evans, it's not just about what's in the pages but how Enninful's work has changed the entire landscape: "No more do Black women search mainstream newsstands in vain for visions of themselves," she writes. "Now we are ubiquitous in my newsagent, in my corner shop, and it really wasn't that hard." As well as making the business case for diversity, there's a clear creative value in it for Enninful. "I've always seen the beauty in all sorts of shapes and sizes," he said, pointing to the work he did over the years at magazines like i-D, Vogue Italia and W. "It's just how you treat the person in the magazine. If you uplift them, surround them with what we call 'magic,' that's really all you need." Read the Story » Share the cover story

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