Shulman V Enniful

After hearing the news in June that Alexandra Shulman had decided to stand down as editor-in-chief of VOGUE I felt both sad that it was the end of an era and also excited to see who would take over. I started reading VOGUE in 2010 and it was my dream to one day be editor, so I would always read the Editors Letter written by Alexandra Shulman. I never had many thoughts on her, I liked what she wrote but I didn’t feel a connection to her until I watched the BBC VOGUE documentary. I was amazed at how involved she is within the magazine but I was also shocked at how she didn’t look like she was interested in fashion whatsoever. Like, compare Alexandra Shulman with Anna Wintour and there is a big difference in sense of style. When I watched the documentary I was introduced to Lucinda Chambers and I immediately fell in love with her and her immense creativity. She was the fashion director and she had been at VOGUE for 36 years, so you can imagine my heartbreak when it was announced, that she to, would be leaving.

I had never heard of Enniful until the announcement that he would be the one to take over but I was so amazed to find that he was the first gay, black male to be editor-in-chief at VOGUE. I thought that this would definitely be a step in the right direction. My first thought was because he’s a man I’m interested to see his take on a women’s fashion magazine, I’m excited to see if he includes any articles or features surrounding menswear! Next I thought, he’s a P.O.C so VOGUE from now on will finally be diverse and inclusive. He said –

“Before I got the job I spoke to certain women and they felt they were not represented by the magazine, so I wanted to create a magazine that was open and friendly. A bit like a shop that you are not scared to walk into.

“You are going to see all different colours, shapes, ages, genders, religions. That I am very excited about. You are going to see less of models who don’t look so healthy.”

Unfortunately there was bad blood between Shulman, Enniful and Chambers which, for me, has dampened my view on Edward Enniful. However, it won’t stop me from buying VOGUE and I am certain that Enniful is one of the best things that could happen to British VOGUE so I am excited to see what he brings out.

If you know of either Shulman or Enniful, what are your thoughts?

Hollie Rose x