British Vogue editor Edward Enninful says magazine appeared ‘stand-offish’ and ‘cold’ before he took over
Edward Enninful has said he thinks people saw British Vogue as “stand-offish” and “cold” before he became editor-in-chief.
While appearing on Talk Art podcast with actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament, Enninful spoke about how he wanted the magazine to include more diversity when he took on his role.
The 48-year-old explained that the update of the magazine under his leadership to reflect his outlook was “a sign of the times”.
“I think before that when people thought of Vogue, they thought it was really stand-offish and cold. But we’re in different times,” he said.
“It was just a sign of the times really. I didn’t reinvent the wheel. All I did was I just looked at the magazine and I just thought from my perspective what would I like to see?”
Enninful recalled that he wished to “see different kinds of people” in the magazine, “different sizes, different races, everything I’ve really practised in my career”.
“That’s really what I injected into the magazine,” he said.
“It’s still Vogue, it still has to have that gravitas. It’s aspirational but I like to think I was able to bring a little bit of the world I saw, the world at large, the world you live in, the world we live in, into the magazine.”
Enninful’s first issue of British Vogue was released in November 2017, featuring model and activist Adwoa Aboah on the cover.
The editor explained on the Talk Art podcast that when planning the December 2017 issue of the magazine, he wanted to hit back at the notion that Britain was “xenophobic” and “racist”, following the Brexit vote.
1/10 November 1988, American Vogue
Anna Wintour’s first cover for American Vogue was era-defining in more ways than one. Namely because Wintour subverted a decade-long tradition of only putting elaborate occasionwear on magazine covers. Instead, she chose a beaded Christian Lacroix jacket and stone-wash Guess jeans. The smiley photograph that Lindbergh captured of Israeli model Michaela Bercu lends itself to a similarly unvarnished aesthetic, one that soon became Lindbergh’s trademark.
Vogue
2/10 September 1990, British Vogue
This cover marks a rare moment for Lindbergh, given that its star is not a supermodel. Now an established jewellery designer, Jade Jagger is perhaps best known for being the daughter of Rolling Stones front man, Mick Jagger. She was just 19 years old at the time of this shoot and had just left boarding school in Wiltshire. Here, Lindbergh shot her unusually close-up, erasing the outline of her face to produce a truly unique image.
Vogue
3/10 January 1990, British Vogue
Ask any Vogue fan which is their favourite cover of all time, and most will name this one. Lindbergh famously photographed Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy and Cindy at the height of their fame. What’s more, he allowed their beauty to stand on its own, eschewing glittering gowns and garish makeup for jeans, stretchy tops and bare faces.
Vogue
4/10 March 1990, British Vogue
If anyone can put a horse on the cover of British Vogue without making it look like an equestrian catalogue, it’s Lindbergh. For this special international collections issue, he photographed Danish supermodel Helena Christensen with a majestic horse whose coat matched the optic whiteness of her column dress by Giorgio di Sant’Angelo.
Vogue
5/10 September 1992, British Vogue
In a somewhat grungier cover than is usual for Lindbergh, Linda Evangelista poses as a tattooed, chain-laden New York City taxi driver.
Vogue
6/10 October 2016, Vogue Italy
In this cover, Lindbergh returned to his one of favoured aesthetics: sepia. Film met fashion in this snap – one of the three covers chosen for the issue – with Isabeli Fontana, Carolyn Murphy and Milla Jovovich captured strolling down the street in New York City’s Times Square wearing androgynous ensembles by Gucci. “I wanted to tell a story on the street,” Lindbergh said of his concept. “And while often in magazines the act of walking is portrayed in a stereotyped and frankly boring way, this is where looking to the future is for me.”
Vogue
7/10 January 2019, Vogue Japan
Tilda Swinton looks almost unrecognisable in this Vogue Japan cover, sporting a black bob and an embellished blue jacket from Chanel’s Haute Couture collection. With this cover, Lindbergh showed he can reinvent even one of the most famous actors with his imagery.
Vogue
8/10 April 2018, Vogue Australia
Emma Watson was chosen as the guest editor for this issue of the Australian fashion publication, which was focused on tackling issues related to global warming. The British actor was photographed by Lindbergh for the cover in a ruffled black gown with her hair blowing in the wind. “Thank you, Peter Lindbergh,” Watson wrote in her editor’s letter, praising the artist’s “careful eye”.
Vogue
9/10 July 2019, Vogue Germany
This year’s July issue of Vogue Germany was dedicated to the late Karl Lagerfeld, who died in February. The former Chanel and Fendi creative director was honoured by Lindbergh with three covers featuring Birgit Kos, Luna Bijl and Vittoria Ceretti. All three models wore looks from Chanel and Fendi. All of the images exuded a peacefulness as provided by the serene beach landscapes in the background.
Vogue
10/10 September 2019, British Vogue
Lindbergh photographed 15 people for the September issue of British Vogue, which was guest-edited by the Duchess of Sussex. For the issue, which was dubbed “Forces for Change”, Meghan chose women hailing from politics, film and fashion. Each portrait was taken in a different style with different proportions, but all of them paid homage to Lindbergh’s signature natural style.
AFP/Getty
1/10 November 1988, American Vogue
Anna Wintour’s first cover for American Vogue was era-defining in more ways than one. Namely because Wintour subverted a decade-long tradition of only putting elaborate occasionwear on magazine covers. Instead, she chose a beaded Christian Lacroix jacket and stone-wash Guess jeans. The smiley photograph that Lindbergh captured of Israeli model Michaela Bercu lends itself to a similarly unvarnished aesthetic, one that soon became Lindbergh’s trademark.
Vogue
2/10 September 1990, British Vogue
This cover marks a rare moment for Lindbergh, given that its star is not a supermodel. Now an established jewellery designer, Jade Jagger is perhaps best known for being the daughter of Rolling Stones front man, Mick Jagger. She was just 19 years old at the time of this shoot and had just left boarding school in Wiltshire. Here, Lindbergh shot her unusually close-up, erasing the outline of her face to produce a truly unique image.
Vogue
3/10 January 1990, British Vogue
Ask any Vogue fan which is their favourite cover of all time, and most will name this one. Lindbergh famously photographed Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy and Cindy at the height of their fame. What’s more, he allowed their beauty to stand on its own, eschewing glittering gowns and garish makeup for jeans, stretchy tops and bare faces.
Vogue
4/10 March 1990, British Vogue
If anyone can put a horse on the cover of British Vogue without making it look like an equestrian catalogue, it’s Lindbergh. For this special international collections issue, he photographed Danish supermodel Helena Christensen with a majestic horse whose coat matched the optic whiteness of her column dress by Giorgio di Sant’Angelo.
Vogue
5/10 September 1992, British Vogue
In a somewhat grungier cover than is usual for Lindbergh, Linda Evangelista poses as a tattooed, chain-laden New York City taxi driver.
Vogue
6/10 October 2016, Vogue Italy
In this cover, Lindbergh returned to his one of favoured aesthetics: sepia. Film met fashion in this snap – one of the three covers chosen for the issue – with Isabeli Fontana, Carolyn Murphy and Milla Jovovich captured strolling down the street in New York City’s Times Square wearing androgynous ensembles by Gucci. “I wanted to tell a story on the street,” Lindbergh said of his concept. “And while often in magazines the act of walking is portrayed in a stereotyped and frankly boring way, this is where looking to the future is for me.”
Vogue
7/10 January 2019, Vogue Japan
Tilda Swinton looks almost unrecognisable in this Vogue Japan cover, sporting a black bob and an embellished blue jacket from Chanel’s Haute Couture collection. With this cover, Lindbergh showed he can reinvent even one of the most famous actors with his imagery.
Vogue
8/10 April 2018, Vogue Australia
Emma Watson was chosen as the guest editor for this issue of the Australian fashion publication, which was focused on tackling issues related to global warming. The British actor was photographed by Lindbergh for the cover in a ruffled black gown with her hair blowing in the wind. “Thank you, Peter Lindbergh,” Watson wrote in her editor’s letter, praising the artist’s “careful eye”.
Vogue
9/10 July 2019, Vogue Germany
This year’s July issue of Vogue Germany was dedicated to the late Karl Lagerfeld, who died in February. The former Chanel and Fendi creative director was honoured by Lindbergh with three covers featuring Birgit Kos, Luna Bijl and Vittoria Ceretti. All three models wore looks from Chanel and Fendi. All of the images exuded a peacefulness as provided by the serene beach landscapes in the background.
Vogue
10/10 September 2019, British Vogue
Lindbergh photographed 15 people for the September issue of British Vogue, which was guest-edited by the Duchess of Sussex. For the issue, which was dubbed “Forces for Change”, Meghan chose women hailing from politics, film and fashion. Each portrait was taken in a different style with different proportions, but all of them paid homage to Lindbergh’s signature natural style.
AFP/Getty
“That’s not the England I know,” he said. “So the whole idea was to create sort of a love story to Great Britain. Let’s not forget what this great country’s given the world.”
Enninful said that in his view, Aboah, whom he has known she was about two years old, “represented a girl of today”.
“She was a model, we were talking about her mental health, she’s not afraid to be who she is,” he said.
“She opened the doors for young women to talk about how they were really feeling inside and I thought she was the perfect cover girl. There was nobody else, it was always Adwoa.”
Earlier this month, Dame Judi Dench made history as the oldest person ever to appear on the cover of British Vogue.
The actor, who is 85 years old, starred on the cover of the publication’s June issue, having been photographed just before lockdown.
In the accompanying interview, Dench jokingly refused to talk about the prospect of retirement.
The Skyfall star added that she doesn’t like thinking about her age, stating: “I don’t want to think about it. They say age is an attitude.”