British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful has claimed he can’t hail a cab because taxi drivers won’t stop for him due to his skin colour.
Enninful, whose famous friends include Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, says he still has to ask his aide — who is not black — to flag a car down for him.
The Ghana-born fashion director is no stranger to alleged racial profiling.
A security guard at Enninful’s Mayfair offices was sacked in 2020 after refusing him entry to Vogue House. To add insult to injury, the guard told him to use the tradesmen’s entrance at the rear of the building.
The latest allegations come after Enninful, who turned 50 in February, revealed last week that he spent 14 years in Alcoholics Anonymous and was estranged from his father for 15 years.
The editor, who married his long-term partner Alec Maxwell earlier this year and will publish his autobiography on Tuesday, also opened up about a fear of losing his sight after having four operations on his eyes in recent years.
British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful (pictured on Sunday) has claimed he can’t hail a cab because taxi drivers won’t stop for him due to his skin colour
Enninful has alleged that taxi drivers racially profile him, forcing him to have his assistant hail cars for him.
‘My assistant still has to hail a taxi — despite the position that I’m in,’ he said, speaking at the BFI Southbank in London to promote his memoir, A Visible Man.
‘I’m a black man in the world; it wasn’t the first time it happened and it’s not going to be the last time.’
In 2020, Enninful had revealed he was a victim of ‘racial profiling’ at his own office.
The editor claimed he was refused entry to Vogue House in Mayfair by a security guard who apparently failed to recognise him.
He later confirmed that the security guard was immediately sacked by bosses at Conde Nast, the magazine giant which owns Vogue.
‘When those incidents happened, it made me realise: do not forget who you are, do not forget where you’re from and do not think you’re so amazing these things won’t touch you,’ Enninful said at the promotional event, which was followed by a party at Claridge’s.
It was speculated that the Duchess of Sussex might attend, but she was notable by her absence. Meghan guest-edited Vogue’s bumper September 2019 issue.
Enninful, who is pictured with Michaela Coel on Sunday as he promoted his upcoming memoir, says he still has to ask his aide — who is not black — to flag a car down for him
Enninful, who was born in Ghana but grew up in West London, became the first non-white person to be appointed editor of Vogue in 2017.
His arrival prompted a mass exodus of staff, including deputy editor Emily Sheffield, a baronet’s daughter and David Cameron’s sister-in-law, who lost out on the top job.
After the former stylist succeeded Alexandra Shulman in 2017, he reportedly said his priority was to ‘get rid of the posh girls’.
He now says of Shulman: ‘She represented a different time. In 25 years there had only been 12 models of colour on the front cover.
‘I just thought: “Let me bring in a new world, let’s create a magazine that was inclusive and everybody could see themselves in.” ’
Enninful has opened up about his life’s struggles ahead of the release of his memoir, including his battle with alcoholism and how he had four operations on his eyes in recent years.
He explained that detached retina, among other issues, led to him having the procedures – and during the recovery time he was left living in the dark and looking at the floor for several weeks.
Edward also addressed rumours he may take over as editor of American Vogue when Anna Wintour, who has held editorship since 1988, steps down
Describing the recovery as ‘psychologically intense’ he explained he had always had problems with his eyesight.
He told The BBC‘s Amol Rajan last week: ‘But what I’ve also learned is… you don’t need perfect vision to create. You don’t need 20/20 vision to see images.
‘So that’s the irony of it: though I have bad eyesight, I’m still able to create images that people seem to resonate with.’
As well as issues with his sight, Enninful suffers from the blood condition thalassaemia, which flares up and causes him pain.
As a child living in Ghana, he had to have several blood transfusions, before eventually moving to the UK when he was 13 years old amid political unrest in the country.
His mother, who had run a seamstress business, decided to remain in Ghana for a little while after a young Enninful, his father and his five siblings moved to Vauxhall in south London where they lived with his aunt.
Enninful’s father, who had been in the Ghanaian military, spent three years seeking asylum in the UK.
When he was 16, Enninful was spotted on public transport by stylist Simon Foxton, who told him he could be a model, and he began shooting with photographers for i-D magazine.
After assisting the magazine’s fashion director Beth Summers, Enninful gained more experience and when Summers left her position shortly before the model’s 18th birthday, he was asked to step into her role, becoming the youngest ever fashion director for an international publication.
However the job came at a price as Enninful had been skipping classes at the University of Goldsmiths in order to pursue his career. When his father found out about this, he threw him out of the house and the pair didn’t speak for 15 years.
Edward, who married his long term partner Alec Maxwell in February this year, also opened up about being estranged from his father for 15 years
A-list pals including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham gathered at Longleat House – home to Enninful’s close friend Emma Thynn, the Marchioness of Bath – to watch Edward and video producer Alec tie the knot in an intimate ceremony in the Orangery (above)
During the interview, Enninful also revealed he had suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life and had been part of the Alcoholics Anonymous programme for 14 years where he said he found ‘fellowship’.
The editor said: ‘It got very bad because imagine how I was, you know – I lost one home, which was Africa, and came to England.
‘Then I lost a second home when I was kicked out. And then I went into the gay scene thinking I found my tribe and again, got so many rejections.’
Enninful did eventually find love in his long-term partner, creative director Alex Maxwell and the pair tied the knot in February this year.
A-list pals including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham gathered at Longleat House, in Wiltshire – home to Enninful’s close friend Emma Thynn, the Marchioness of Bath – to watch Edward and video producer Alec tie the knot in an intimate ceremony in the Orangery before partying the night away.
The star-studded nuptials coincided with Enninful’s 50th birthday. He is pictured with a handful of his nearest and dearest for a dinner at Laylow in west London (pictured)
The wedding is estimated to have cost at least £600,000, according to event experts, but Edward could have received favours from friends, including use of the historic wedding venue, which is believed to have been a wedding gift from Emma and her husband, the 8th Marquess of Bath.
The star-studded nuptials coincided with Enninful’s 50th birthday.
After partnering with Meghan Markle who guest edited British Vogue in 2019, Enninful put to bed rumours the Duchess of Sussex had asked to delay publication so the American media would see the edition first.
He claimed ‘nobody really interfered’ with the publication process.
Enninful also addressed speculation about whether he would step into the shoes of fellow Brit Anna Wintour, 72, to take the helm at American Vogue when she eventually steps down after first taking editorship in 1988.
Although he said he is ‘so happy’ running British Vogue, he added: ‘You never know what the future holds.’