Edward Enninful Quotes

With Rihanna, it’s always a collaboration, and that’s why I love her so much.

Most of the time, working as a stylist, you’re at home, working on your own, researching.

I didn’t grow up with money; I didn’t come from a rich family. But what fashion gave me was an escape into a world of creativity: if I couldn’t afford that Junior Gaultier jacket, then I’d get one from the market and customise it.

The more you style, the better you get. Don’t give up. At a certain point, the magic happens.

You never know where inspiration is going to come from.

I can tell you, without diversity, creativity remains stagnant.

Prince was not scared. The first time I heard someone sing about AIDS, it was Prince: ‘In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name.’ He was not afraid of taboos.

I can’t just go in and throw clothes at a picture. I still have to have some kind of an idea of a character, of who she is, where she’s from. It’s almost like playing a child’s game. You have your dolls, and you create characters for them. Fashion indulged that in me.

If you put one model in a show or in an ad campaign, that doesn’t solve the problem. We need teachers in universities. We need internships. We need people of different ethnic backgrounds in all parts of the industry. That really is the solution: you have to change it from the inside.

I want ‘Vogue’ to feel like a shop that you’re not scared to walk into, one that’s quite welcoming.

In my work, I have always tried to push the boundaries of what fashion can do.

For me, fashion succeeds when it says something about the times we live in.

Music, for me, is as important as fashion. The first visuals I remember are Elvis Presley, David Bowie, New Romantics, and different punk bands.

When I was 18 years old, I moved into Neneh Cherry’s house in Kensal Rise with Judy Blame and our friend Michael Boadi.

I felt like I grew up with Bowie. I never dressed like him, even though I did love the music, but consistently throughout my career he has been a go-to reference point: The suit from ‘Young Americans,’ or the gold Missoni-type looks of Ziggy Stardust. ‘The Berlin Years’ still influences me.

I was really sheltered growing up, with six brothers and sisters. We played together all the time, and I was living in a fantasy world, like most creative people.

People like me thought America was the best place to be creative, to be free to create, to have the freedom to be who you are.

When I started in the nineties, a sample size was a 4 and a 6.

I didn’t know anything about the fashion industry until I met the stylist Simon Foxton on a Tube. I was 16, on my way to Kingsway College, and then my whole world opened up. Before that, like in every African family, you are meant to be a lawyer.

I’m just propelled by insecurity; that’s what really leads me to want to do better.

Coming from a family who put a lot of emphasis on academics, I always thought I was going to be a lawyer.

By people getting together and celebrating this idea of togetherness, great things can happen.

I’m very proud of the world that’s embracing all these different ideas of what it is to be diverse, in 2017.

There is nothing more classic in the realm of casual than jeans and a white tee – a look that is inherently Americana and reminiscent of the American Dream – an optimistic dream of opportunity, individuality, freedom, and the embodiment of one living their truth.

Social media is fine, depending on how you use it.

I’m so fascinated by the influence of social media on fashion. I’ve seen so many artists on Instagram, up and comers you would have never known otherwise.

Being an immigrant and living in England, I feel like I lived in two worlds. There was the world that, when I was at school with my friends, was very English, and then I’d go home to another country, with exotic foods and colours. I have a sense of colour pairings, and that came from my background, I think.

When I was growing up, David Bowie was my idol. I grew up in inner-city London, and he was from Brixton, which is even more urban.

I’m really excited to see my vision for the ‘British Vogue’ team come to fruition.

The best photographers know how to light any color skin.

Growing up, I loved the imagery I saw from America as it celebrated being the land of the free and home of the brave.

I realise I am stepping into the shoes of a hugely respected editor in the shape of Alexandra Shulman, someone who has chosen to leave at the top of their game with a legacy of 25 years of success.

You could say slowly but surely, the world is changing in a good way – equality in all forms is more and more part of the global conversation, and people are celebrating diversity and individuality.

I don’t think I’m in any way an icon, to be very honest.

I’ve learned to put a big value on having a life outside of fashion, and I think that’s what’s saved me, because the fashion industry can suck you in.

I love the optimistic American style that Gap celebrates and the simplicity of the basic white T-shirt that allows you to be yourself.

I don’t think everything has to be new all the time. You don’t have to have the latest designer all the time to look good. Just have things you’re comfortable with, have key pieces that you can sort of reinvent over and over again, and always keep things that you really love for a while.

‘British Vogue’ is a great magazine with a legacy of creativity and innovation.