Could Enninful Be The Influential Fashion Figure Who Sees Fashion Tech’s Potential? [Open Letter]

With the appointment of forward thinking Edward Enninful confirmed, I am left wondering whether the new Editor of British Vogue and Shulman's successor will bring creative fashion tech designers and makers achievements to the pages of Vogue.

Dear Edward Kobina Enninful,

I thought that today’s news required me to address you in your full given name. Congratulations on your recent appointment. You more than deserve the coverted position of British Vogue editor. Now I can’t wait to see what you are going to do with it.

Looking back, I first uttered your name many seasons ago. It was the year of the Von Dutch trucker hats loved by the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears. I was young and always looking up to the stars that shone so brightly above my head. One of those stars was you. I was in awe. How could I not be intrigued by someone who managed to make editor at 18? It was 2001 and I was in my early 20’s. I could usually be found knee deep in the fashion cupboard at Tatler. It was my first fashion job, interning under the amazing Isabella Blow.

As I paid my dues, I followed your work closely. Over the years I felt inspired by your more riskier editorials. Kate Moss depicted as a nun? Well it certainly made people sit up and take notice. Like a mother, I cannot pick a favourite child, but I can say this much, your work at Italian Vogue was mind blowing. I was glad to see someone with your  attitude spearheading the ‘Black Issue’. True, not everyone got it, but I did and I appreciated the fearless message behind each photo.

It is on this note that I put my admiration aside and get real with you. Alexander Shulman did a great job at Vogue, but I envision you taking it to the next level. So what’s the next level? Well it depends on who you ask. Personally, I think it is acknowledging the makers, designers, creators and visionaries born of the merger of fashion and technology. For me, names like Iris van Herpen, Anouk Wipprecht, Billie Whitehouse, Madison Maxey, Brooke Roberts are the Christopher Bailey, Demna Gvasalia, Olivier Rousteing, Sarah Burton of this innovative industry. With you at the helm, I hope that their out of this world achievements will, sooner rather later, be celebrated by one of the world’s most respected glossy.

Lastly, for as long as I can remember, most fashion greats have gone against the grain. I see you as one of those greats. So as you prepare to assume the responsibility of British Vogue, I trust that you will continue to be the influential figure whose “baptism into fashion” shaped the thinking of one ambitious 20 something. Remember, as you make industry changing decisions, that fashion and technology has given birth to whole new talent of designers who would not look out of place on the pages of Vogue.

Wishing you all the best,

-Muchaneta Kapfunde | Editor-in-Chief of FashNerd.com