{"id":94846,"date":"2025-09-18T23:42:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94846"},"modified":"2025-09-18T23:42:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:42:00","slug":"fashion-risks-going-backwards-on-diversity-says-ex-vogue-boss-edward-enninful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94846","title":{"rendered":"Fashion risks going backwards on diversity, says ex-Vogue boss Edward Enninful"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Edward Enninful, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, has said \u201canti-woke\u201d and anti-diversity rhetoric is having \u201ca moment\u201d, and that being super-thin and European are often seen as the beauty norm again in the world of fashion.<\/p>\n

The Ghanaian-born British editor and stylist ended his tenure at British Vogue in 2023, and last week launched what he calls an \u201cinclusive\u201d new media platform, EE72.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 podcast Radical with Amol Rajan for London Fashion Week, Enninful suggested the industry risked going back to how it was before years of more inclusive modelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re potentially going back to an industry that\u2019s just sort of, \u2018one type is the norm, being European is the norm, being super-thin is the norm\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A string of high street fashion adverts that have been banned because they featured models who looked \u201cunhealthily thin\u201d has led industry experts to warn of a return to the super skinny trend,\u00a0BBC News recently reported.<\/p>\n

Enninful described fashion as an \u201cindustry in flux at the moment\u201d. He said he\u2019s therefore \u201cexcited\u201d to be returning at what feels like \u201cthe perfect time\u201d because \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of work to be done\u201d.<\/p>\n

The first quarterly print edition of his new venture \u2013 titled 72 after the year he was born \u2013 focuses on the beauty of women over 50. It features Hollywood movie star and \u201creal human being\u201d Julia Roberts, 57, on its cover.<\/p>\n

Enninful came to London as an asylum seeker, and after being appointed fashion director of the British fashion magazine i-D at the age of 18, he went on to become the first black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, where he championed diversity in order to \u201crepresent the world we live in today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Rajan if he thought a cultural \u201canti-woke moment\u201d was now taking place, he agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s definitely a cultural moment,\u201d he replied. \u201cWoke is a dirty word.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see what\u2019s happening in the world politically. So anything that\u2019s not deemed as normal or the norm is seen as wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines \u201cwoke\u201d as meaning \u201cwell-informed\u201d or \u201cup-to-date\u201d as well as being \u201calert to racial or social discrimination and injustice\u201d.<\/p>\n

It has been seen as a badge of honour by some on the left, but more often as an insult by those on the right.<\/p>\n

The fashionista continued: \u201cIt\u2019s not woke to think that someone curvy is beautiful, it\u2019s not woke to think someone from another country is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes the fashion industry \u201chas to figure out where we stand and what we stand for\u201d.<\/p>\n

Edward Enninful and Anna Wintour pictured at 2024\u2019s UK premiere of Disney+ documentary series, In Vogue: The 1990s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the same interview, Enninful spoke about his departure from Vogue and his relationship with\u00a0Dame Anna Wintour, who is stepping back as editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.<\/p>\n

He laughed at widespread reports that the two had fallen out and that he had been forced out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I took the job, I gave myself five years, and I did six,\u201d he explained, adding that she had asked him to give them a year\u2019s notice so they could find his replacement, who turned out to be Chioma Nnadi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was my decision to leave. But I just loved all these stories like, oh my God, Anna and I were fighting!\u201d<\/p>\n

He said she was \u201cactually very supportive\u201d because she could see he was leaving \u201ca secure place\u201d like Vogue to go it alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnna and I, text each other all the time. You\u2019re going to see us together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enninful also gave his views on the controversial recent\u00a0Sydney Sweeney jeans advert.<\/p>\n

US fashion retailer American Eagle had the Euphoria and White Lotus actress resplendent in its denim alongside the words: \u201cSydney Sweeney has great jeans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people took the gene pun to mean the ad was implying a racially superior ideal of beauty. Others, however, backed Sweeney and described the outrage as overblown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought people really read into it probably deeper than I would have,\u201d said Enninful, noting how Sweeney is currently \u201chaving a great moment\u201d in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then also on the other hand, I guess if you have a blonde woman sitting there talking about her jeans, it will trigger some people.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I feel like the population is quite divided really, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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