Edward Enninful's comeback: Ex Vogue editor launches rival fashion magazine after unceremonious exit from Condé Nast - but will it be enough to dethrone Anna Wintour?

Daily Mail​

16-05-2025

Edward Enninful is launching a new 'magazine and platform' that is set to compete with former boss - and rumoured rival - Anna Wintour 's Vogue.
British-Ghanaian Enninful, 53, was the first male and first black editor-in-chief of British Vogue and, for a time, was widely considered to be the protégé who would succeed Wintour.
Wintour, 75, who started out as an editor at British Vogue, has been editor of American Vogue - the original edition of the title - since 1988.
She also works as well as global chief content officer of the magazine's publisher Condé Nast.
But as Enninful put his stamp on the British version of the so-called fashion 'Bible', rumours of a 'power struggle' between him and Wintour began to swirl - before his departure from the magazine was announced at the start of 2024.
Now, after nearly 18 months out of the spotlight, Enninful is back with a quarterly print magazine, 72 (after his media company EE72) - and it may well deepen the reported rivalry that emerged between the two fashion publishing titans.
Enninful, who was appointed fashion director of the edgy i-D magazine at just 18, announced his new venture on Instagram just two days after the Met Gala - unquestionably the most important night in fashion, which Wintour has presided over for three decades.
He revealed that both the media platform and the magazine will launch in September of this year.
Describing the upcoming magazine as the 'cornerstone' of the entertainment company that he and his sister, Akua Enninful, founded in February of this year, he said: 'I've been waiting a while to announce this to my loyal followers.
'EE72 magazine and platform coming in September. Thank you for the continued support'.
Enninful announced that he would be launching a new 'magazine and platform' in September 2025
In another post, he said: 'We've assembled the best-in-class teams to define and deliver boundary-breaking storytelling and content.
'We are so excited to share an editorial world that reflects the cultural shifts shaping today's landscape, and we can't wait to reveal more in the coming months!!!'
Those 'best-in-class teams' include Enninful's former Vogue colleague Sarah Harris, according to the Telegraph.
Sarah has worked at the magazine for 20 years, and a move is likely to irritate Wintour.
Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding, two former Vogue contributors, have also been recruited as 72's creative directors.
As The Telegraph highlighted, the fact that Enninful said he had been 'waiting' to reveal the new project suggests he was previously 'contractually prevented from doing so'.
This would likely have been due to 'a non-compete clause in his contract with Vogue's publisher, Conde Nast.
By drawing emphasis to the 'cultural shifts shaping today's landscape' in his Instagram announcement, Enninful could have been making a thinly veiled reference to Wintour, who some believed was too slow in driving diversity at Vogue.
In an internal email in 2020 she wrote: 'I want to say plainly that I know Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.'
Wintour admitted: 'We have made mistakes, too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant.'
In September of that year, Enninful's British Vogue cover featured black activists Marcus Rashford and Adwoa Aboah.
During his six-year reign, the magazine featured a transgender model for the first time and Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet was the first man on the cover.
Another cover featured five disabled stars and was also released as a Braille edition.
Wokeness, however, is not a quality commonly ascribed to 73-year-old Wintour - the woman said to have inspired Meryl Streep's fearsome editor in hit film The Devil Wears Prada.
Enninful's 72 has had a warm reception from his 1.6 million followers and, importantly, his celebrity fans, including supermodel best pal Naomi Campbell who posted her 'Congratulations' on Instagram.
Addressing the question on everyone's lips, The Telegraph reported that an insider said: 'Anna won't be threatened by this – she's Anna Wintour – but she'll be keeping a close eye.'
The insider added that while Anna will 'understand why Edward wants to control his own narrative,' she will nevertheless see him as 'competition.'
'There are only so many A-listers who'll sell magazines these days, and it's naive to think they won't both be chasing the same names – or advertisers,' they pointed out.
Whether or not it will topple Anna's reign is unclear, but it'll do nothing for their relationship which is said to have been frosty for years, with some believing Enninful was forced out of British Vogue.
While Enninful insisted his career at British Vogue ended 'how I wanted it to end' - his final issue was in March 2024 - his tenure of just six years was very short compared to his predecessor Alexandra Shulman's 25 years.
He said: 'It ended how I wanted it to end', speaking about his final days in the top job at British Vogue.
Rumours began to fly last in 2023 that Enninful, who had openly expressed he'd like to take over from Wintour one day as global editorial director of Vogue, had been caught in a power-struggle with the fashion matriarch.
At the time, a Vogue insider said: 'He made no secret of wanting the big job [global editorial director] but he hit the glass ceiling and he'd gone as far as he could go.
'He thought he would be in London for a few years and then head for New York, but he now knows that he's never going to get Anna's job at Condé Nast.
'Anna is the undisputed boss. She has seen off many rivals and continues to do so. She could swat him like a fly.'
However, addressing the rumours head-on, Enninful said: 'I don't comment on gossip, I never have.'
Another fashion source at the time said: 'I think Edward underestimated [Wintour's] power. He had so much smoke blown up his a**e when he was appointed editor that he couldn't see his own trousers.'
The Mail on Sunday revealed two years ago that he threatened resignation unless given Wintour's job by the end of 2022. That, of course, never came to pass.
As a result, an insider said Enninful's move to another role within Condé Nast was a 'power struggle'.
'Edward pitched his new vision against old Vogue – and lost. Succession [the hit TV drama about a toxic media family] has got nothing on this,' they said.
There were reports of blazing rows between the pair with one source saying that simmering rancour boiled over when Enninful planned to make the magazine gender neutral.
'This was too much,' said the insider. Another Vogue source added: 'There would be differences of opinion. Wintour would say, 'Don't listen to Edward' and he would say 'Don't listen to Anna'.'
Known as 'Nuclear Wintour' and famous for her sleek bob and dark sunglasses, she has a reputation for being the demanding titan of the industry.
Vogue insiders called Enninful the only 'real threat' to her power. Insiders whispered that the pair 'don't talk', with a source five years ago saying: 'I don't think she ever felt he was qualified for that role.'
As far back as 2018, there was speculation that Enninful's position at British Vogue was only temporary and that he would take over from Wintour when she retired.
But he said in an interview: 'Everybody wants to know what I'm doing, but I would like to tell you that I don't want Anna's job. I've spoken to her about it a few weeks ago.'
In 2018, Vogue was forced to deny rumours that there was a 'growing rift' between Enninful and Wintour.
It came after Enninful was said to have been left in tears when Wintour sat next to the Queen at London Fashion Week show - while was notably absent.
An insider told the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare at the time: 'Edward was in tears when he found out.
'None of them knew about it. They had all flown to Milan for Milan Fashion week so they weren't even in London when it happened.'
While Vogue's publishers Condé Nast strongly denied the claims, saying 'there is no truth to this', another source described how the animosity between them was growing, suggesting the pair no longer talked.
The source told FEMAIL: 'They don't talk. I don't think she ever felt he was qualified for that role.
'After all that's gone on the animosity between them is growing.'
The insider suggested that the tensions dated back to when Edward worked as a stylist at US Vogue under Anna, who is known as 'fashion's ice queen' due to her frosty demeanour.
In the 2009 documentary The September Issue, Anna is seen reprimanding him, saying: 'Where's the glamour? It's Vogue, OK? Please, let's lift it.'
However, someone else at Vogue denied the suggestion they were not on speaking terms, but confessed they were not close.
'They are perfectly cordial and polite to each other, just not close friends,' the source said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Wintour also denied the rumours, saying that she was 'very proud' of Enninful and loved 'having him as a colleague'.