Edward Enninful and Linda Evangelista on Fashion Then And Now

Edward Enninful cuts a unique figure across the backdrop of the fashion landscape. He is a Black gay man, an immigrant who came to London from Ghana and the European editorial director for Vogue as well as the editor-in-chief for British Vogue. The result means that while he is largely influential through his actions, overseeing the brands and editorial output of some of the industry’s most respected publications, his impact extends through his very existence. He is for many a “possibility model,” or a living testament to how far one can go.

I know that experience personally: As a young Black boy aspiring to work in the fashion business, I had few people to look up to who actually looked like me. For years, André Leon Talley was my one-of-one. And then when The September Issue documentary was released in 2009, in which Enninful makes a cameo appearance as a contributing stylist for American Vogue, he too joined this small group. When Grace Coddington told him to “demand or you will be blamed” and urged him to beat his way through the industry to be heard, I felt as if she was speaking through him and to me. But Enninful had been beating his way through long before Coddington gave him any advice.

While Enninful’s mother was certainly a part of the fashion industry, she was far from where the seats of true fashion power are thought to be in Europe. Back in Ghana, his mother ran a dress shop making looks for high-society women.

“My mother lived and breathed fashion,” Enninful says. “She was a Black woman in the '70s running a business. She was the breadwinner and she showed me everything was possible.” And his life became a living testament to that idea.

Once in London, Enninful was scouted as a model in the early '90s before going behind the camera, becoming a stylist and photography assistant. Then he made history as the youngest fashion director at an international fashion magazine when he was appointed to the post at i-D. Even then, he was pushing his way through, beating out his own path, namely through putting Black girls on the covers, issue after issue, at a time when they were often treated only as one-offs.

“People in the industry would say to me, ‘Oh, another one?’” he remembers of the pushback. And that’s what he gave them: another one, and then another after that. It was an early mark in a career where Enninful has posed the question: “Why?” Why must we do it like this? Why can’t there be four covers in a row featuring Black models? The result has made him a catalyst for much-needed industry restructuring and reformation of thought.

He pressed on asking why. He asked: Why can’t plus-sized models cover a fashion magazine? when he put Candice Huffine, Tara-Lynn and Robyn Lawley on the cover of Italian Vogue in 2011. He forced conversations about racism when he took to Twitter to ask about his second-row couture seating assignment while he was the fashion director of W Magazine — a departure from how his white counterparts were treated. And he asked why in a historic way when he helped to lead the execution of Italian Vogue’s all-Black issue. All along, he’s stayed true to his beliefs.

“My mother told me, ‘If you are going to get fired, make sure you get fired for what you believe in and not what someone else believes,’” he says.

Having made waves with the aforementioned projects, Enninful’s ascension to the top spot at British Vogue ushered in a new era for the publication seen primarily through his covers. In a bid to represent all women, the editor began releasing images featuring women of various races, at various ages and presentations. Why not cast Halima Aden as the first hijabi model for the cover? Why not give frontline workers in the COVID-19 epidemic center stage? Why not give British Vogue its first Black woman on the cover of a September issue in the form of Rihanna? Why not celebrate Pride with a fold-out cover of 12 LGBTQ+ stars? These are the questions Enninful has asked, pushing the industry forward with diversity as a central focus.

“You’re influencing people who have even been around a lot longer than you,” supermodel Linda Evangelista tells Enninful just days after New Year’s celebrations. And she would know, given that the pair have worked together throughout the editor’s long career, beginning at i-D and then for every publication Enninful has held a post at since.

But life is more than just work: The recently married editor is just as welcoming and supportive in his personal life, according to Evangelista. While Enninful calls Evangelista a star with a distinctly English sense of humor and awe-inspiring knowledge about fashion history, Evangelista’s words on Enninful get to the heart of the type of man he is.

“For me, the most important thing for making a new friendship and keeping a friendship is how safe I feel when I’m with them,” she says. “To know that I’m safe to be myself. Edward has always offered me that. I can be as serious as I want to be, I can be as real as I want to be, I can be as funny as I want to be, and with Edward I know I’m always safe. This is even outside of work.”

How did you both spend New Year’s?

Linda: I had the best New Year. Asleep at 10:30; it was fabulous, it was so good. I don’t like a prix-fixe menu at a restaurant with a warm glass of champagne and a noise maker. I don’t.

Edward: And hot caviar.

Linda: I don’t eat caviar, so I don’t.

Edward: I was in St. Barth’s and I went to dinner. We thought it was a small dinner and it was about 150 people.

Linda: It’s a scene in St. Barth’s. Was it your first holiday there?

Edward: No, it’s my second. Last year we had a house so it was quieter. But I thought let me get into the party spirit... At the parties it’s like you go places and you know people but don’t really know them. So you see all those people that you don’t really know in one place.

Edward: [Laughs] Linda sees everything!

Linda: Well, I wake up at 5 o’clock, so I do my scrolling then.

Edward: Yes, I have to be social. But I am social. I think it comes from coming from a family of six. I always had people around.

Edward: Yes, I have to be social. But I am social. I think it comes from coming from a family of six. I always had people around.

How did you two end up meeting? Through work?

Linda: Through work. Edward, what was our first job? Was it i-D?

Edward: Yeah, it was at i-D in the ‘90s. I remember the first time I met Linda, you probably don’t remember. It was in Paris. I was with photographer Jenny Howarth. We came to shoot a friend of yours. We were waiting for her outside the Chanel show and you all burst out. That was when we first got introduced, and then i-D was when we first worked together. It was just like oh my god, Linda. I still have that same feeling today.

Linda: Speaking of Jenny, I love her. How real is she? I’m in awe.

Edward: Very real! She’s incredible. And she’ll send me pictures all the time. But yeah, and since then you and I have done so many stories together. Some of my favorite stories.

Linda: I don’t really remember the first time we worked together but I was intimidated. Because when you work with someone new and they’re cool and you’ve heard buzz, I get intimidated.

Edward: I think that was when we did the shoot with Craig McDean. It was me, Didier Ludot, Craig McDean, Pat McGrath, and we were so nervous! I think we shot in London and the pictures were so easy. I was actually looking at them yesterday. This little sort of grungy story with sneakers.

Do you still get that same nervousness working with new people or are you mostly working with frequent collaborators?

Linda: I’m not as nervous with Edward per se. I’m always nervous or on edge to produce, always. But there’s certain people in this industry that you just know you can’t fail with and Edward... he brings the fun, too. It’s not fun anymore, but Edward brings the fun.

Edward: We do have fun, we still laugh. What I love about Linda — let me put it this way: I’ve worked with every model alive, and the thing about Linda is when you think of an idea, it’s not just, "Here's the dates." Linda will ask, "What’s the character, are there books I should be reading, are there films I should watch?" Then when she comes on set it’s 150%. Do you remember when we were on set with Steven Klein and you cut your finger, went to the doctor and came back?

Linda: And I stayed in character the whole time.

Edward: Linda is like a silent movie star. Like a Greta Garbo. I think that’s why you get so exhausted because you give everything. It’s like climb the skyscraper, get in the scaffolding, there’s nothing she won’t do and that’s rare. It goes beyond modeling.

Linda: I love being given a character and Edward just gives. I was just thinking of that shoot where I cut my finger and the cameras were still rolling. I kept in character with blood squirting out of my hand. I got a favor from a friend who got a favor from a friend for someone to come at 9 o’clock at night to sew my hand back up.

How has your relationship evolved since then?

Linda: We had mutual friends. Now we’re all a family. If you invite Edward over to watch the Oscars, he’ll come in his PJs, bring dogs. We’re very comfortable with each other. What kind of pajamas did you come in?

Edward: They were Alexander McQueen! Snake print.

Linda: It’s not like they were J Crew. They were silk.

Edward: I miss those dinners you used to have at your house. You were an Italian mama. There would be pasta and pizza and oh, we would eat!

Linda: I miss them, too. I’m feeling her coming back. That part of me disappeared for a while, but I think she can handle it again.

Having worked together for so long in this industry at so many different levels, how has the industry changed over that time?

Linda: Oy.

Edward: Oy. Where do we start?

Linda: Would you agree with me Edward that now, the finished product, which is the ad, the photo or the editorial is no longer the primary reason to be there? All the B-roll and social media is the reason to be there. It feels like the image ends up being the least important part.

Edward: Yeah. In the beginning, we would shoot pictures for magazines and you try to do the best pictures you can but now everything is a brand. So, like Linda is saying, there's the magazine cover which, for me, is the ultimate because it’s still the advertising for any magazine. But out of that you have to do video, audio, events. It’s no longer just one thing. But I still believe it’s what brings the magic.

Linda: I was at the doctor’s office the other day and the nurse said she still got British Vogue. She was so old school but she said she looked forward to it every month. She doesn’t look like the kind of person who is on social media. It was sort of refreshing. She was saying they aren’t afraid and she looks at it as art. That’s the way people used to speak about magazines.

Linda: The interesting thing about British Vogue is we are not subscription-based. We are slowly getting there but we are not subscription-based, so you have to sell on the newsstands. You have to surprise, you have to create conversation. So I’m very aware of that. I know that the Linda September cover was the most spoken-about thing that month, but it also sold very well. The video is my personal highest-viewed video. I called Linda when it hit one million views. But when we are on set we just have fun.

Linda: The interesting thing about British Vogue is we are not subscription-based. We are slowly getting there but we are not subscription-based, so you have to sell on the newsstands. You have to surprise, you have to create conversation. So I’m very aware of that. I know that the Linda September cover was the most spoken-about thing that month, but it also sold very well. The video is my personal highest-viewed video. I called Linda when it hit one million views. But when we are on set we just have fun.