It was already the industry’s worst kept secret by the time London Fashion Week began last weekend.
But, after months of speculation about who would succeed Edward Enninful, the 51-year-old outgoing editor of British Vogue, Condé Nast has confirmed to the Guardian that London-born journalist Chioma Nnadi will take over on October 9.
Nnadi, who is now the editor of the website for the US edition, will be identified as head of editorial content rather than editor-in-chief. She will also be the first Black woman to edit the venerable fashion publication.
“Is there pressure? Yeah, there’s definitely pressure – it’s Vogue,” Nnadi said while speaking from her home in New York.
“It still means something to be in Vogue, it still has authority. [And there’s pressure] because of Edward. He broke new ground. It’s more than being part of a magazine – it’s part of the cultural conversation.”
The statement came after a weekend of fashion presentations that were somewhat overshadowed by Vogue World, the magazine’s successful arts/fashion event that was also called “Anna Wintour’s flex” by guests. Nnadi, perhaps wisely, remained in New York to avoid stoking rumors.
The importance of the new job title cannot be overstated. Nnadi stated that her focus will be on “digital storytelling” and keeping Vogue “interactive” with readers – but this is part of a shift that has seen the starry editors of Vogue’s European editions, who once occupied the front rows, replaced by global heads following Condé Nast’s 2020 company-wide restructuring.
As a result, Nnadi will almost certainly collaborate with Wintour, who has described Nnadi as a “beloved colleague” who will focus on “music and culture” as well as fashion. Nnadi, for one, has credited Wintour with “bringing Vogue into the future.”
“Working under Anna, you get a sense of what’s going to be next,” she said after Vogue World. I haven’t seen my email yet, but she’s probably moved on to the next item.”
Nnadi grew born in central London, the daughter of a Swiss-German nursing mother and a Nigerian father who moved to the UK to study in the 1960s. She worked for indie publications such as Trace and the Fader, where she credits her “scrappy” disposition, before a time at London’s Evening Standard.
Nnadi went to New York in 2010 to work for Vogue, where she currently oversees the US site, co-hosts the podcast, and is one of the magazine’s star writers, as well as the living embodiment of Wintour’s mantra: “All platforms – all the time.”
“As a Black woman, but also as a biracial woman, how I view the world is also how I see it – through a lens that is influenced by my background, by where I live, and by having parents from different cultures and having to move between these cultures,” she said.
“Things have changed a lot. When I started out, there was one other Black person working in the building, and we both went to the same college. It wasn’t the same place it is now. Obviously matters of diversity and inclusion should always be on the agenda, but it feels like more of an open conversation now, and that feels to me like progress,” she said.
Nnadi is an editor and writer, and Enninful is a stylist. She acknowledged that Vogue is first and foremost a fashion magazine, but she felt that “the impulse is the same, whether you style or write.” Even if his history was different from mine, Edward had that instinct. However, the question of how to capture the zeitgeist will always remain. It is critical to consider who is telling the tale and whose story we are telling.”
Enninful announced his departure from Vogue after the March 2024 edition hit newsstands. His retirement was unexpected after a successful but brief six-year career as the magazine’s first male and first Black editor, during which he was praised for including people of different skin colors, body sizes, and origins. Enninful intends to remain at Condé Nast as an advisor and will work with Nnadi in the near future. “[The British office] are already my colleagues because of the way we work globally,” she explained, adding that they already meet three times each week.
Nnadi is well versed on the criticism levelled against the magazine, particularly its often out-of-touch fashion price point. “When I started at Vogue it was about having the latest new thing,” she said. “Now, there’s a sense of archival fashion being just as important. I grew up going to Portobello Road every single weekend looking for vintage clothing. That was before it was super cool to do it.” Will this devil wear vintage? “I always stop by Rellik when I’m in London, and go down Ladbroke Grove on a Friday, so most of my wardrobe now is resale and vintage”, she said. “Of course as I progressed, I was able to afford new things too,” she said. One of her most prized possessions, though, is an Edwardian dress.
Nnadi said she was still looking for a place to live in London and planned to remain with family until she found one. Despite being in another country for nearly a decade, she says she is still a Londoner at heart, while she admits that “the axis of cool has definitely changed since I was here.” It’s a homecoming, but it’s also a learning experience.”