Edward Enninful, editor

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Edward Enninful is the editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the editorial director of Vogue in Europe. Edward was born in the port city of Takoradi in Ghana in 1972. His father was a major in the Ghanaian army and, following a period of political instability, the family fled the country and settled in London. Edward’s interest in fashion dates back to his childhood in Ghana when he watched his seamstress mother at work making dresses for clients including the President’s wife. As a teenager in London he was spotted by the stylist Simon Foxton and began modelling for the irreverent fashion magazine i-D. At 18 Edward became the magazine’s fashion director, the youngest person ever to hold this post at an international fashion title. In 2017 Edward became editor-in-chief of British Vogue and since his appointment he has championed inclusivity and diversity. His cover stars have included Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey and he recently featured the first man – actor Timothée Chalamet. Edward was awarded an OBE for services to diversity in the fashion industry in 2016. He married his partner Alec Maxwell this year and they live in London with their dog Ru. DISC ONE: Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu by Alhaji K Frimpong DISC TWO: Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil DISC THREE: Strange Fruit by Nina Simone DISC FOUR: Back to Life by Soul II Soul DISC FIVE: Ex-Factor by Lauryn Hill DISC SIX: Stars of Track & Field by Belle and Sebastian DISC SEVEN: Peru by Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran DISC EIGHT: Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary by Rihanna BOOK CHOICE: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson LUXURY ITEM: A pair of embroidered slippers CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Strange Fruit by Nina Simone Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.9	Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks Podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them
0:13.9	if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:16.5	And for right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:21.2	I hope you enjoy listening.
0:43.3	My cast away this week is Edward Nninful, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the editorial director
0:49.8	of Vogue in Europe. He's the first man to hold the post and the first black editor
0:54.1	invokes 100 year history across any of its 26 international titles.
0:59.3	Under his leadership, the magazine has championed diversity and encouraged writers,
1:04.2	models and designers of all backgrounds and experiences to tell their stories in its pages.
1:09.6	His mission was to provide not just aspiration but inspiration in his words for every woman
1:15.7	to be able to find themselves in the magazine. His love of fashion goes back to his childhood in Ghana
1:21.3	where his father was a major in the army and his mother was a dressmaker.
1:24.9	She was, he says, his role model. As a child, he sat by her sewing machine,
1:29.6	filling notebooks with designs for elaborate gowns, much to his father's disapproval.
1:34.9	When he was a teenager, political turmoil forced the family to relocate to London.
1:39.8	There, he was scouted as a model which opened his eyes to fashion and all its possibilities.
1:44.8	He worked as a magazine stylist before taking on his first editorial role at just 18.
1:50.8	But despite his success, like a true trend setter, his focus remains firmly on what comes next.
1:57.3	He says, I still feel like I'm at the beginning. I feel the fire of something new,
2:02.1	staying stagnant. That's terrifying. Edwin and Phil, welcome to Daza Island Disks.
	...

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