Edward Enninful launches rival magazine to Anna Wintour’s Vogue

Edward Enninful has announced the launch of a new magazine titled 72, the latest initiative to hail from his ambitious mini media empire

By every measure, this year’s Met Gala was a roaring success. In raising a record-breaking $31 million for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, it bathed American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, its chairman since 1995, in the type of golden glow she’s long accustomed to after 40 years at the summit of fashion.

Which isn’t to say there haven’t been shadows. Feuds? She’s had a few. You don’t ascend to fashion’s highest echelons – and stay there – without ruffling a few feathers, and never more so than in the run-up to the Met Gala. But a rumoured uninvited appearance by disgraced rapper Kanye West failed to materialise, a historic fall-out with her former colleague, Andre Leon Talley, was glossed over by the exhibition showcasing several of his outfits, and her alleged tiff with Naomi Campbell was defused by Campbell’s conciliatory Instagram post wishing Wintour luck, even if she didn’t attend.

Edward Enninful and Serena Williams attend this year’s Met Gala in New York - FilmMagic

Sitting in her chic four-story townhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village the morning after the Met Gala, Wintour, 75, likely felt she could exhale again. Seventy-two hours later, however, she may well have taken a sharper intake of breath.

On Thursday, Edward Enninful, the esteemed British editor and stylist who left his posts as European editorial director of Vogue and editor-in-chief of British Vogue in March 2024 after four and six years respectively, popped up on Instagram to announce the launch of a glossy new magazine. “I’ve been waiting a while to announce this to my loyal followers,” he wrote, in the manner of someone who had been contractually prevented from doing so, doubtless due to some standard non-compete clause in his contract with Vogue’s publisher, Conde Nast. “EE72 magazine and platform coming in September.”

His followers’ reaction was as swift and unequivocally supportive as one might expect, given that Enninful, 53, is one of the most well-connected people in fashion. Awarded an OBE for his services to diversity in the fashion industry in 2016, his friends include Oprah Winfrey (he put her on the cover of British Vogue in July 2018), Beyonce (his cover star in June 2022) and the Duchess of Sussex (she guest edited Vogue’s fabled September issue in 2019). Leading the congratulations was Naomi Campbell, a close confidante for decades, tipped to be on the magazine’s masthead as a contributing editor.

Titled 72, the magazine is the latest initiative to hail from Enninful’s ambitious new mini media empire, first revealed in February, when he announced the launch of EE72, a global media and entertainment company. “I started my career believing in the power of storytelling and how storytelling could change the world we live in,” he said in a Reel posted to his 1.6 million Instagram followers. “From i:D to Italian Vogue, Japanese Vogue, American Vogue, British Vogue, all this has led to this moment, to creating this platform that is to connect people through creativity.”

It’s also a shot across the bows to his former employer, Conde Nast – as well as to his former boss and mentor. “Anna won’t be threatened by this – she’s Anna Wintour – but she’ll be keeping a close eye,” says one insider. “She’ll understand why Edward wants to control his own narrative. Let’s not forget that in 2020, she apologised [in an internal memo to Conde Nast employees] for not doing enough to promote black staff or designers. She promised to value black and POC voices in the future, but there are those who think that she and Conde Nast didn’t do enough. With this new venture, Edward has the freedom to platform whoever he wants to. Anna gets that. But she also knows that he’ll be 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.”

How Wintour et al will retaliate remains to be seen, but some predict that a change in legal terms is on the horizon. “I think the loyalty is very much with her - I doubt she even cares,” says an insider who has contributed to Conde Nast titles, including British Vogue, extensively. “That said, I think it will be a case of exclusivity with certain photographers and contributors, who will perhaps be made to sign new contracts. I’ve never been asked for exclusivity before - everything is just owned by Conde Nast and can’t be reproduced. The last round of contracts I signed was two months ago so didn’t take the news into account, but I imagine extra clauses are coming.”

Many believed Enninful would be Wintour’s natural successor when she eventually retired from her role. But with Wintour in no mood to receive her carriage clock in the imminent future, Enninful felt that time was ticking. Rather than wait for her to step down from her throne, he elected to build one of his own, and form his own court comprised of his chosen friends and family.

Naomi Campbell, who has been a close confidante of Enninful for decades, is tipped to be on the magazine’s masthead as a contributing editor (pictured together in 2017)

While his sister, Akua Enninful, is EE72’s co-founder and CEO, the name raising most eyebrows is that of the magazine’s new editorial director. Enninful has poached Sarah Harris, a Conde Nast stalwart of 20 years who worked under Alexandra Shulman, Enninful’s predecessor at Vogue, before becoming his deputy. He has also tapped Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding, two influential former Vogue contributors, as its creative directors.

Enninful’s foray into print is both timely and unsurprising. In an era dominated by screens, algorithms and transitory content, magazines have come to be valued as a welcome antidote to mindless swiping. Even Gen Z would admit that digital content can feel shallow and ephemeral, designed to be consumed at a speed that can feel exhausting. Print offers a depth and permanency that lends writers, photographers and stylists an authority that can feel elusive online. For image-makers in particular, the internet can never replicate the impact of a glossy ten page fashion story. This hasn’t been lost on luxury brands, most of whom currently find themselves struggling to connect with a new generation of customer, if recent sales figures are anything to go by. While magazine ad revenues are in decline, the right brands are still willing to place ads in the right publications.

The demise of magazines has been predicted with almost as much ferocity as the apparent appetite for launching them. 10, the British independent fashion magazine launched by Sophia Neophitou Apostolou in 2003, is currently enjoying a rapid international expansion, adding to its Australian edition with a USA edition in 2023, a Japanese edition (2024), and a German edition earlier this year. Other British success stories include Perfect (founded by stylist Katie Grand), The Gentlewoman (founded by journalist Penny Martin), Violet Book (founded by stylist Leith Clark) and Beyond Noise, launched last year by stylist Sarah Richardson.

Enninful has poached Sarah Harris to be his magazine’s new editorial director - Dave Benett

All of these magazines are helmed by Enninful’s contemporaries; British stylists who, like Enninful, cut their teeth on cult style bibles of the eighties and nineties such as The Face, Dazed & Confused and i:D. These “super stylists”, many of whom also dress A listers for the red carpet, have leveraged their experience and moved from poorly paid editorial work to handsomely paid advertising and consultancy work for luxury brands with whom they formed deep relationships while working for these legacy magazines back in the day.

Being their own bosses, they are at liberty to take on any consultancy work they choose. This wasn’t the case when they worked at Conde Nast or Hearst, publishers which claim to enforce strict rules dictating that editorial and commercial work remain separate. “Editorial wages haven’t risen with inflation, but people used to work on these magazines for prestige, if not money,” says one former glossy magazine editor. “But with declining readerships and the migration of eyeballs towards social media, they’re not as prestigious as they used to be. Why would top tier people stay, when they can work for themselves, make their own rules and launch their own magazines as a calling card to showcase their talents?”

While some legacy magazines are struggling due to declining ad sales (American Vogue dropped from eleven to ten issues per year in 2024), independent publishers seem to be thriving. “What we offer is a bespoke conversation for brands that they can’t normally have with mainstream magazines,” is 10 magazine founder Sophia Neophitou Apostolou’s explanation for indie magazines’ success. “We can also pivot quickly. We’re like a speed boat in a sea of tankers – agile and adaptive.” Nor is she afraid of any increased competition. “The indie community is very supportive of each other. We’re all part of the same choir, but with different voices singing the same song. We all stand for freedom of expression, and we all want people to tear out our pages, stick them on a wall and be inspired.”

Enninful with Anna Wintour at a British Vogue and Tiffany & Co event in 2023 - Getty

What will Enninful add to the landscape? “He’ll bring his unique voice that maybe he wasn’t always free to speak with [at Conde Nast]. Think what he managed to do inside the confines of quite a restrictive corporate conversation. He brought us some iconic covers – celebrities, yes, but he also put NHS workers on the cover of Vogue.”

Some insiders believe he will have his work cut out, despite his stellar connections. “Undoubtedly he made Vogue more diverse, but he didn’t exactly come up with anything groundbreaking, and he didn’t boost sales,” notes one fashion editor. “How will they get advertisers without readers? He’s also known to be very exacting, so it won’t be cheap to run.”

One brand likely to help fund Enninful’s enterprise is Moncler, the deep-pocketed Italian luxury outerwear label whose table he hosted at the Met Gala, some of whose A-list guests were dressed in Moncler x EE72, a brand partnership that is no doubt the first of many. As for what else the magazine will feature, we’ll find out in September. A press release promises the platform will “transcend traditional boundaries between fashion, beauty and culture”, adding that “the company’s vision is anchored in empathy and innovation, fostering meaningful connections across communities and cultures.”

Over to you, Anna.

Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful and Conde Nast were approached for comment.

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