From my outsider perspective, Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful seemed to get along well. Maybe they were never super-close, but they respected each other and Wintour made a point of supporting Enninful throughout his tenure as editor-in-chief of British Vogue. So much of the reported drama around Wintour misses the fact that Wintour has largely consolidated her power at Conde Nast, and she acts as kingmaker or queenmaker for many of Conde Nast’s publications and their EICs. Enninful always served at Wintour’s pleasure, basically. Which makes the news of Enninful’s departure interesting.

Edward Enninful will step away from his post as editor-in-chief of the fashion bible’s UK edition next year, Vogue Business reported Friday. But Enninful’s continuing to move up at Condé Nast, and will transition into a new role as an editorial advisor for British Vogue and a global creative and cultural adviser for Vogue.

In an internal memo to the heads of editorial content at Vogue France, Vogue Italia, Vogue Spain and Vogue Germany (who all report to him), Enninful said he and Anna Wintour “have been discussing how I can 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,” Enninful continued.

Enninful explained the new position will give him “the freedom to take on broader creative projects.” The Ghanaian-British creative — who has worked at Condé for more than 25 years — also shared plans to hire a head of editorial content for British Vogue.

[From Page Six]

So far, the Telegraph is the only major publication running this story as something potentially scandalous, like there’s some kind of “rift” and “power struggle” between Enninful and Wintour. Again, from where I sit, it seems like Enninful is being promoted though, and he’s probably going to be something like Wintour’s second in command when it comes to her global vision for Conde Nast’s publications.

Now, do I also think this “promotion” was designed to get him out of EIC position at British Vogue? Perhaps. While Enninful has gotten a lot of praise for modernizing one of the stuffiest Vogues, his modernizations have not been overwhelmingly supported or welcome, especially by those in the British Vogue community and British fashion community. I also wonder if Wintour was kind of mad that Enninful landed some big exclusives, like that Beyonce cover last year.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Director British Vogue Edward Enninful at photocall of 10 edition Vogue Who On Next in Madrid on Monday, 25 October 2021. Cordon Press ** England Rights ONLY **,Image: 639860642, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: 797/DAVID/CORDONPRESS / Cordon Press / Cordon Press / Avalon

Edward Enninful on the red carpet for the ‘Eternals’ UK Gala Screening at BFI IMAX Waterloo in London, United Kingdom.,Image: 640321802, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: To licence this image, email for more information., Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon

Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful attend The Fashion Awards 2019 at The Royal Albert Hall. London, UK. 02/12/2019 | usage worldwide