On Wednesday I was kindly invited to accompany some of Londons most glamourous fashions elite to witness an interview with a style innovator, an inspiration, a legend, Edward Enninful.
I headed up to town, plumed to the max in my Brandon Flowers-eque feathered vest, to the pristine otherworldly venue of the CRYSTALLIZED Swarovski store, located but a stilettos throw from the shopping mecca of Carnaby street.
Trying to dodge the hoard of Papparazzi outside (who were milling about in the hope to snap a supermodel) and desperately trying to rebel against my trademark inability to walk in heels I attempted to elegantly escalate the fantastical staircase. Reaching the top, composed and in one piece, I was greeted by the chic Penelope and the other lovely FBC ladies.
Having braved the furnace of the underground I grabbed a quick refreshment before finding a good viewing seat, opting for the second row so as to avoid looking too eager! Today, doing as Parky would was Michael Herz, the extremely talented Creative Director of Bally Womenswear. He had returned after his successful first stint in the interview chair and was positively glowing as the prospect of questioning a man who he himself admires greatly.
L-R FBC Co-Founder Alison Whelan, Edward Enninful, Michael Herz and FBC Co-Founder Courtney Blackman
Edward and Michael greeted eachother with a warm embrace, sharing a few giggles as they ran through a few intros for FBCTV and posed for photos with the FBC team. In the meantime the room fast became as bussling as backstage at LFW, with a plethora of on-trend/fashion forward ensembles on inntaely stylish bods cluttering the minamilist venue.
After a slight water mishap, which saw the star of the day sporting a soiled shirt, any neves were eased and the interview began. Via the intro and primary questions we were quite rightly reminded how lucky we were to be in the presence of Edward, not only due to his catalogue of work styling for Italia/American/British Vogue and role as Creative Director of ID, but because he is so incredibly busy and his time extremely precious.
Edward’s story would make for a fantastic biopic. Living in Ladrboke Grove and surrounded by creatives at a child, his parents made the seemingly odd decision to send him to a school in South London. He was spotted as a model at 16 by stylist Simon Foxton, a lifestyle which was light years away from the Lawyer future his father had imagined or hoped for. His Ghanian mother, who was a seamstress, was less ferocious in her opinion of her sons potential career move, but acted ‘as a typical African mother’ grilling and interrogating Foxton. From then on everything moved at a rate of knots and soon Edward was being introduced to the now legenadry photography Nick Knight and feeling the uncomftrable tickle of ants as he posed in Richmond Park for his first campaign, an ad for Pepe Jeans. A couple years later, after his friend and collaborator Knight put in a call to Terry and Tricia Jones at ID and he was given the seemingly premature and daunting role of Fashion Editor. His first task would see him writing the collection reports in Paris. You could almost see him relive the naive excitement/fear he felt at 18 whilst regailing the tale.
Next Micheal wanted to gain an understanding of Edwards daily work routine. It was explained that the work generally fall into one of three catagories, Advertising, Editorial and Shows. A day working on an Advertisement will begin with a meeting with clients, discussing what their aim is and to find out who their target audience is. Following this he would usually head back to the studio, build moodboards, think about the character and the clothes and then go back to the client to discuss again. This process would end with the shoot.Another area of work is Editorials, which he suggested is probabaly the most fun for him. It starts with going to the studio in the morning and going through the numerous racks of clothes , trying to create a character, then heading to the shoot to setup, talking everything through with the photographer before shooting.Finally with Shows his work routine would vary depending on whether it was a long term consultancy or whether he was taking on a show at the beginning of the season.Generally he would decide on the looks for the catwalk, fit the models and decide on the rotations.Something which unites all three processes is the need for constant research and editing.
While many would be happy to take all the glory, when probed about who ‘Team Edward’ (not in the Twilight sense) consisted of he was as humble as ever, more than happy to state how integral others have been in his succes. He has two Agents one of them being his sister, and treasured assistants Jack, Hannah and Felicia. Touchingly he went on to say that they are more than just assistants, together they’re a family. He explained how their presence aids his work and creativity, that they make for great sounding boards, and that he encourages them to be completely honest. In turn his knowledge and work stays current, after all in his words ‘beauty of fashion is in youth.’ These are some of the people that help him remain grounded in a world that can be catty or fake, or merely so fantastic that you can get swept away from reality. He also appoints his down to earth nature to surrounding himself with real people, his family, a great partner( Alec, a designer) and other people that tell him the truth!
‘Everything can be so fabulous but you have got to hold on to what’s real.’
So, for someone who barely has time to stand still, where is home?? He answered with the honest but endearingly cheesy ‘home is where the heart is”. The audience giggled and groaned in equal measure, but he cemented the sentiment with, ‘London will always be my home but I do love NY, and the excitement!’ Clearly his creativty is still deeply rooted in our beloved capital city as he went on to gush about style hotbeds Camden and Portobello, the ‘customising’ and our ability to ‘create something out of nothing’.He concluded that ‘people of London are free and wanna be who they are’. Refreshing to hear a persepctive that belives the punk attitude is still alive and well in London town.
So for a man thats worked with some of fashion biggest names including Steven Meisel(who despite beng truly inspirationa; created 3 years of very hard work for Edward),Nick Knight and Anna Wintour, is there anyone he’d like to work with?? ‘They’re all dead,’ he said with a wry smile….‘Helmut Newton, Herb Ritz, Irving Penn,’ Whilst this may be the case there are still things in the present that inspire him. Obviously books, museums and art factor but it seemed movies were the medium he turns to most, with him confessing to being quite the film buff. He pondered where his penchant for round faced models may have come from….
As a name often twinned with unfavourable/terrifing adjectives, Anna Wintour was a subject many wanted to investigate further. Recalling his first visit to American Vogue, he remembered being hit with the hard realization that he ‘didn’t don’t know anything’, but stated positively that Annas perfectionist nature ‘makes you want to do better’. He only had praise for the powerhouse editor, admiring her conviction but creating a rather rare but reasonable representation of the intimidating lady, explaining that she ‘listens to what you have to say but takes what she believes to be the best’.
From a recent shoot for American Vogue
While many of us can only dream of working with, or even communicating with such legends, one thing we could all relate to was the hardships and struggles of endeavoring to carve and build a career in creative indsutries. Anyone who has paid their dues within the fashion industry will know very well that at times it can be a far from glamouress existence. Edward described his chosen career and success as both a ‘blessing and a curse’. It can make for a lonely lifestyle, away a lot of the time on your own, but on the upside the job allows one to ‘wake up and realize whatevers on your mind, and realize a story.’ He also explained that if money is what you are after this is not the career for you. During the post interview Q and A session a cheeky question regarding money matters arose. Causing much hilarity ‘what is your day rate?” was posed. He deflected the question carefully and despite persistance managed to get away without giving a definitive answer!! Very well done……
Highlights of his career? Well there is undoubtedly a tricky question with a career as illustrous as his. It would be nigh-on impossible to pick out a definitive job or moment, so he went on to pinpoint important, career changing landmarks, including becoming the new Fashion Editor of ID at 18, his first US campaign for Calvin Klein at the tender age of 22, meeting Steven Meisel and going to US Vogue.
Ears metaphorically pricked up when the obligatory question about his opinion on blogging reared. With a number of tireless fashion bloggers in the audience, used to being criticsed and blasted for dumbing down fashion journalism, we wondered whether we would find another opposer in our hero Edward. It seemed anxieties were unfounded when he went on to sing the praises of the internet age. As well as his obsession with SHOWStudio and Jak & Jill, he explained the possibilities that the internet gifts us, that ‘anyone can be a star now, and ‘everyone can be a magazine’ and ‘it’s a great thing,’ However, he did maintain the stand that despite the aforementioned developments we must still ‘respect traditions of magazines and design.’
Something else he’s taken a stand against is the need for healthier looking models. He outlined that the industry gets caught in a moment, whether it be The Brazilians, The Russians and so on, but the aim should be diversity.
And for aspiring stylists in the audience and for thos reading this post Edward had some encouraging words. Apart from the sinle advice to ‘test, test, test’, he suggested working with friends where possible, afterall who knew what future would greet that the 14 year old Croyden waif he befriended called Kate Moss and his make up artist pal Pat McGrath and that the person who let him stay would become our favourite idyosyncratic outlandish stylist Judy Blame.
After the talk was over he was more than happy to chat, mingle and recieve business cards off the admiring audience. The fact that we were all so relaxed in approaching a figure of such stature says a lot about the man he is. For someone who has achieved so much he appears to have maintained a charming self-deprecating nature, an appreciation for his life and position, and a realness that many others inthe industry haven’t managed to maintain. It seems that that Nick Knight and the Jones’ were right when they thought they saw something special in the young Edward ….. so we’d be sensible in taking his advice in this somewhat cutting industry… ‘Never Give Up!’
Myself and stylist Anne Look
