British Vogue appoints first ever male editor

For the first time in its 101-year history, British Vogue will have a man at the helm.

Ghanaian-born Edward Enninful, who is described as “influential in fashion, Hollywood and music”, will take over from Alexandra Shulman in August.

Mr Enninful, who will be the publication’s 11th editor, has been creative and fashion director of US magazine W since 2011.

Twenty years earlier, aged just 19, he became the youngest magazine fashion editor in the industry when he landed a top job at i-D.

From 1998 to 2011, Mr Enninful contributed to American Vogue and Italian Vogue and in 2014, he was named fashion creator of the year by the British Fashion Council.

He was made an OBE in 2016, and earlier this year, he helped make I Am An Immigrant – a video on the fashion industry protesting against President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

Mr Enninful said: “People like me thought America was the best place to be creative, to be free to create, to have the freedom to be who you are.

“I just thought, ‘Let’s do something that shows that we’re all from somewhere else'” – whether participants were immigrants personally, or the descendants of immigrants.

Mr Enninful, 45, came to London from Ghana as a child, growing up in the capital’s Ladbroke Grove area.

He became interested in fashion as a teenager after being scouted as a model. He quit university at Goldsmiths to pursue his fashion career.

Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive of publisher Conde Nast International, cited Mr Enninful’s work at Italian Vogue as having “attained landmark status in recent cultural history”.

He described Mr Enninful as “an influential figure in the communities of fashion, Hollywood and music which shape the cultural zeitgeist”.

Newhouse added: “By virtue of his talent and experience, Edward is supremely prepared to assume the responsibility of British Vogue.”

Ms Shulman announced in January that she was stepping down as editor-in-chief of British Vogue after more than 25 years at the helm

She said it was a hard to decision to quit the magazine “that I love” but she wanted to “experience a different life”.

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