GET WOKE GO…: Was Edward Enninful’s Vogue too ‘woke’ for Wintour?

When Enninful took over, advertisers were reportedly keen on the new direction. In 2017, “woke” paid. Marketing teams were scrambling for a chance to be associated with him and be seen to make deals with a diverse, inclusive range of talent. Under Enninful, the magazine attracted hundreds of millions of pounds in advertising from companies like BMW. Advertising money aside, PR moves, like the Forces for Change issue in September 2019, which was guest-edited by Meghan Markle, and having Greta Thunberg on the cover, sold out in a matter of days. After early success, Enninful saw himself as Wintour’s heir apparent, with sources telling the Mail that “there have been plenty of pretenders to the throne, but Edward considers himself her natural successor. He is the only person who appears to be a real threat.”

Six years later and a lot has changed. In 2017, when Enninful started, the magazine needed to get with the times. The Vogue look was out, and WASPy-women covers were old hat. But fashions change in politics as well as clothes, and with “wokeness” on the wane we emerge from the collective hysteria of the past few years, Enninful’s progressivism is proving to be too much. More importantly, he seems to have forgotten that his magazine’s success has relied on the fact that it has been a staple for wealthy, fashionable women. When asked about the Vogue reader a few years ago, Enninful said: “They are predominantly women but in this day and age can we really separate the sexes? I’m a man working in a woman’s publication. Femininity sounds old-fashioned.”

As one employee put it, “Nobody was ever going to make Vogue genderless while Anna Wintour was around. I’m not surprised he’s going; I’m surprised he ever lasted this long.”

Why would Condé Nast want British Vogue to be “genderless,” when they also publish the British edition of GQ for men?