It sounds just like one of the most famous scenes in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
When Edward Enninful announced in June that he was stepping down as editor-in-chief of British Vogue and taking on a rather bland-sounding new role at Condé Nast — Global Creative and Cultural Advisor of Vogue — the gossip began to fly: Did the move have Anna Wintour’s fingerprints all over it?
Wags compared it to the moment in “The Devil Wears Prada” when formidable fashion editor Miranda Priestley out-maneuvers her French foe Jacqueline Follet, who had been gunning for Miranda’s job, by getting her another role.
The hit movie, of course, was based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger — one of Wintour’s former assistants.
But some in the industry say the move was a shrewd one to keep Enninful within the fold as he’s become a fashion world celebrity.
Rumors have been rife for years that Enninful, 51, was plotting to become the next editor of American Vogue, which would have meant turfing out Wintour in the process.
But at 73, Wintour, who has been at the helm of US Vogue for 34 years and is also the Global Editorial Director of Vogue editions around the world, has no plans to go anywhere — even as magazine circulation continues to plummet in this difficult media environment, her friends told Pvnew.
“People have tried to doubt Anna, to take her down, and she’s amazing — she just keeps on going” said one person who knows her well.
Another source close to Wintour told Pvnew: “With regards to Edward’s hopes and dreams of Anna going, she’s not going anywhere!”
“Anna has no plans to retire,” added a well-placed fashion source, who admitted that friends have told Wintour she should step back and relax.
When announcing his move, Enninful said that Wintour was part of the decision for him to “play a broader role in enhancing Vogue globally.”
Still, some sources were keen to stress that Wintour did not engineer it as a step down for Enninful, although it certainly takes him out of the limelight he’s earned as editor-in-chief. During his tenure, he’s been celebrated for making British Vogue a beacon of diversity.
Enninful’s first cover featured supermodel Adwoa Aboah, and he has lured Beyoncé and Rihanna — complete with baby son — for the magazine.
Under his reign, British Vogue featured a transgender model, Ariel Nicholson, for the first time.
Meghan Markle famously guest-edited the September 2019 issue, which was criticized for being too woke. “Edward hitched his wheels to Meghan Markle,” said the Wintour source.
Alexandra Shulman, the former editor of British Vogue, has admitted: “It’s no secret that it has been a sadness and frustration … that he positioned himself and his vision by portraying my tenure at Vogue as if it were a crucible of white privilege. But in the intervening years I have learnt this sort of thing can happen.”
But Shulman — whose own frosty relationship with Wintour was laid bare in a telling BBC documentary in 2016 — said that Enninful “was ultimately always playing second fiddle to Anna Wintour.”
As she wrote in the Daily Mail: “He leaves amid an avalanche of rumours of rifts with Wintour … But whether they are true or not, the announcement that he will be replaced by an ‘editorial content director,’ reporting to a multi-step ladder ending in the New York office, delivers a death knell to all that I treasured about the job.”
That ladder leads back to Wintour.
Back in 2020, she was named worldwide chief content officer at Conde Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, with full responsibility for all the titles.
Enninful, a former top stylist, was hired by Jonathan Newhouse, the chairman and former chief executive of Conde Nast International, in 2017, although Wintour would most certainly have had a say, sources /confirm/ied.
Signing off on Vogue’s first black, gay editor was “great for her credentials,” a well-placed fashion insider said.
In 2020, Wintour apologized for the lack of diversity in her staff and her magazine. “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,” she wrote in an internal email first reported by Pvnew. “We have made mistakes, too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant.”
However, some black journalists who had worked with Wintour said her note was a cynical ploy in response to the Black Lives Matters movement.
Vogue was forced to deny a rift between Wintour and Enninful after she allegedly left him in tears by taking the plum spot next to the late Queen Elizabeth on the front row at Richard Quinn’s runway show for London Fashion Week in February 2018. It was the monarch’s first — and last — appearance at a fashion show.
“The queen had never been to Fashion Week,” the fashion insider told Pvnew. “It was a huge thing, and Anna got the photo op. Edward was blindsided. He was so upset at Anna, he was in tears.”
On the day, Enninful went to Milan for a meeting, reportedly with Gucci.
Pvnew can also confirm Enninful declined to join Wintour for a joint interview with the New York Times.
Last September, when asked on Vogue’s video series 73 Questions what she thought she would be doing with her life if she weren’t an editor-in-chief, Wintour deadpanned: “Conflict negotiation.”
“There is no hatred, no animosity between Anna and Edward, they work together all the time,” stressed the source who knows Wintour well.
“The real, bigger point is that Edward wants to do more … he sees himself as a celebrity.”
Enninful recently published a memoir, “A Visible Man,” in which he charted his journey as the son of poor Ghanaian immigrants. His mother was a seamstress, and he grew up helping her to make clothes. This month, he posted a photo of the book cover emblazoned on the Duomo in Milan.
“At the moment, Edward’s been limited to what deals he can accept due to Condé’s corporate policy, and he wants more,” said the Wintour source.
“This is a clever way to keep him in the Vogue fold.”
Enninful attempted to shut down the rumors of his plotting against Wintour last year, telling CNN: “I don’t want Anna’s job.”
Enniful got the nickname the “Queen Mother” among British Vogue staffers because of his alleged diva-like behavior, which included having assistants lead him around through meetings and carry his glasses and even help apply eyedrops, according to the Daily Beast.
There were claims that Enninful had assistants deliver him coffee at home on the weekends, but a source said that he actually used a delivery service.
“I’ve seen his assistant jump out of a car and run into the [corner stores] to get him sweets when he pulls up to an event,” said one fashion editor.
Enninful counts stars including Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss as his best friends. But sources told Pvnew that Campbell and Enninful stopped talking briefly when she thanked Wintour after being awarded the Fashion Icon award at the British Fashion Awards in December 2020 — and neglected to cite Enninful, a friend of more than 30 years.
However, they’re now back to being close and Campbell appeared on the cover of British Vogue with her baby daughter in February 2022.
Enninful will leave British Vogue next year, as rumors swirl that Deputy Editor Sarah Harris could take over — or Vogue editor Chioma Nnadi, a popular Londoner based in NYC who is said to be firmly on “Team Anna.”
Enninfu wrote to staff that he will “continue to contribute to the creative and cultural success of the Vogue brand globally while having the freedom to take on broader creative projects.”
Shulman said: “There is no doubt he will be employed by big brands to create the strong messaging imagery that is his trademark and, with the high profile he has gained during his six years at Vogue, will be able to command big bucks for it. Vogue, in turn, will have access to some of his diversity credibility, and will be able to call on him when needed. These kind of arrangements are not, on previous evidence, known as very lasting gigs.”
And as for Wintour, one fashion editor reported to Pvnew that she has “mellowed” with age. Said another young fashion editor: “She loves talking to young talent and I think that’s what keeps her going.”
