Edward Enninful is out as editor-in-chief of British Vogue after he failed to dislodge Anna Wintour from the position he coveted — the head of the US-based edition of the influential Condé Nast fashion publication, according to a report.
The 51-year-old Enninful leaves British Vogue after a six-year stint as its top editor.
Vogue’s parent company said on Friday that Enninful, who made history as the first gay black man to helm the UK-based publication, would take up a “global advisory position” at the magazine “with the freedom to take on broader creative projects.”
But The Sunday Times reported that Enninful always considered the job as a stepping stone to the title he really wanted but which is occupied by Wintour.
“He felt he had all the right qualities to be a modern, inclusive editor who could present a fresh face for Vogue and global fashion,” a company source told The Sunday Times.
Enninful was so confident that he would get Wintour’s role that he was telling friends that he anticipated moving to New York within a few years, according to the report.
But the 73-year-old Wintour wasn’t going anywhere — having been recently promoted to the position of chief content officer for Condé Nast, according to The Sunday Times.
The Post has sought comment from Condé Nast.
“Edward shot for the moon and lost and so will go back to his first love, which is being a stylist,” a friend of Enninful told The Sunday Times.
“Don’t expect him to be much in evidence at Vogue, despite his grand-sounding new title,” the friend added.
“Do expect him to turn up working not just for fashion houses but also tech companies…Maybe Apple.”
Wintour has headed US Vogue for more than three decades.
Enninful reportedly expected Wintour’s reign to end in 2020, when she apologized in an internal email for “mistakes” made in her 32-year tenure in not doing enough to elevate black voices on her staff and publishing images and stories that have been racially and culturally “hurtful or intolerant.”
The fashion doyenne wrote in the email: “I take full responsibility for those mistakes.”
“He did not believe he would have to play second fiddle for much longer to a 70-something woman who, to him, represented so much that had been wrong with the industry for far too long,” a friend of Enninful told The Sunday Times.
Enninful, who is said to have pushed to make Vogue more gender-neutral, reportedly tried and failed to persuade Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch to remove Wintour.
Her US-based journalism career began in 1975, when she moved to New York City to become a junior editor at Harper’s Bazaar.
She became Vogue’s first creative director in 1983.
During the course of her career, she earned the moniker “Nuclear Wintour” for being a difficult boss.
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