Enninful no longer in Vogue

Rumours of power struggle with Anna Wintour behind departure of first black and male boss at magazine

EDWARD ENNINFUL is leaving his role as editor-in-chief of British Vogue amid rumours of a rift with Anna Wintour.

The 51-year-old, the first male and first black editor of the magazine, is alleged to have been involved in a power struggle with the editor of US Vogue over attempts to make radical changes to the 130-year-old publication, including a push to make it “genderless”.

He yesterday announced to staff that he was leaving his role as European editorial director and editor-in-chief of the British magazine to take on a global advisory position at the publication.

During his six years at the helm, Enninful has championed diversity.

Under his editorship the British magazine featured a transgender model for the first time, actor Timothée Chalamet became the first man on the cover and Sinead Burke became the first visibly disabled person to feature on the front of any Vogue magazines.

Enninful hit the headlines when he released an issue guest-edited by the Duchess of Sussex, which she claimed changed the “superficial” focus of the fashion industry into pages of “positivity, kindness, humour and inclusivity”.

However, a biography of the Duchess has since alleged that the pair clashed and she even tried to change the publication schedule. Since taking up the post in April 2017, there had been constant speculation that he would replace Ms Wintour at the helm of the global fashion publisher, with insiders saying he was the only “real threat” to her power.

In an email to staff, published by Vogue Business yesterday, he suggested that he would be replaced by a “head of editorial content” rather than a new editor-in-chief.

The magazines in Paris and India have already replaced seasoned editors with a new digital savvy generation.

Enninful told staff that he had been discussing with Wintour and Roger Lynch, chief executive of the magazine’s publisher, Condé Nast, how he could play a “broader” role in “enhancing Vogue globally”.

“I am excited to share that from next year I will be stepping into the newly appointed position of editorial advisor of British Vogue and global creative and cultural advisor of Vogue, where I will continue to contribute to the creative and cultural success of the Vogue brand globally while having the freedom to take on broader creative projects,” he wrote.

“To optimise my increased global responsibilities, and to give British Vogue the new focus it will deserve, we saw the opportunity to hire, in concert with our global editorial structure, a head of editorial content for British Vogue.”

Enninful, who began his career in editing at i-D magazine when he was 18, had once been a protégé of Wintour.

She had hired him to work on American Vogue prior to his appointment as fashion director at W, another Condé Nast publication. Vogue has previously

‘I will continue to contribute to the success of the brand while having the freedom to take on broader creative projects’

denied rumours of a rift and Enninful thanked his former boss when announcing that he was leaving his post as editor- in-chief.

A source at the publisher insisted that the move “increased” his global responsibilities and is a “continuation of his long-standing relationship with Condé Nast, which stems over 25 years”. He took over the post in 2017 from Alexandra Shulman, who had been in the job for 25 years.

One of his first acts was to fire the magazine’s fashion director Lucinda Chambers, who had worked there for 36 years.

Enninful has said that he has drawn on his own life experiences when editing the magazine and that his “tenure here at Vogue has always been about inclusivity and diversity”.