Edward Enninful

Edward Enninful is a British fashion stylist, and current fashion and style director of W magazine.

Early life

Edward Enninful was born in Ghana, but at a very young age, moved to Ladbroke Grove, London, along with his parents and five siblings. His mother worked as a seamstress, and inspired him with the vividly patterned colors and fabrics she used while creating clothing for her British-Ghanaian friends.

At the age of 16, Enninful was spotted on the train by stylist Simon Foxton. "I was 16 and I had no idea who Simon Foxton was," he said in an interview for Telegraph Magazine. "About two weeks later I was stopped again, this time by a model scout. When I told her that I'd already been approached by Simon Foxton, she told me how amazing he was and weeks later I was shooting with him at his house, along with Nick Knight, a founder-photographer of i-D."

Enninful described his brief career modeling as his "baptism into fashion". By the age of 17, he had been introduced to Trish and Terry Jones, founder of i-D magazine, and soon began assisting i-D fashion director Beth Summers. He finished college, earning a degree at Goldsmiths, University of London ("Barely, but otherwise my dad would have killed me.") while juggling his modeling career and assisting on shoots with Foxton and Summers. Summers left the magazine a few weeks after Enninful's 18th birthday, and Terry Jones gave Enninful the position.