Edward Enninful being fired from British Vogue has many layers. Enninful resigned last Friday and said he would be taking on a global advisory position for international Vogue. In a matter of hours, rumors started to circulate that Enninful was battling Anna Wintour. She had allegedly destroyed him. Although I'm sure that this version of the story happened, I think that there is more to it than that. Enninful will and can make more money outside Conde Nast. The Telegraph published a surprisingly nuanced article about the ideological battle that took place behind the scenes in this Enninful vs. Wintour debate. The article is entitled "Why Anna Wintour Won Vogue's War on Waking Up". However, the analysis is spot-on. Highlights:

Enninful and Roger Lynch, CEO of Conde Nast, had a disagreement. According to reports, Enninful made his decision at least partly because they disagreed on ideas. Lynch was concerned about Enninful’s progressive politics. Vogue, at its core, is just a business. As recent incidents have shown with Nike, Bud Light and Disney, the corporate world can be a fraught environment where you need to strike a delicate balance between being able to sell your product while also appearing as if you hold the "right views".

Enninful’s progressive politics. Enninful was a fashion stylist who had an impressive contacts book. Since then, he's cemented his reputation as a champion of diversity and activism. Paris Lees was the first transgender contributor and Laverne cox, his cover star. Recently, covers featured disabled people. In September, he featured Timothee Chaalmet alone on his cover.

Advertisers liked Enninful. Advertisers were said to love Enninful’s new direction. It gave them a chance to be next to a diverse and inclusive range of talent, with social media friendly messages. The company attracted advertising worth hundreds of millions from BMW. Also, there were some positive comments about the circulation. Conde Nast is notoriously opaque when it comes to its circulation figures, but Enninful’s Forces for Change September 2019 issue, which featured Greta on the cover and was guest edited by the Duchess, sold out within days.

Enninful became a more activist editor, but for others, the magazine's entertainment was sacrificed to his activism. Farrah Stors, a former Elle editor, wrote in a Substack article that "Everything about [Enninful] made him not a classic editor, which is to say a journalist trained with a background in words." She writes that "Vogue evolved from a playful fashion magazine, even if it was a little horsey," to a political manifesto. Along the way people stopped buying the magazine, and instead, it was given away, or sold for a discount. It was too political, joyless and had forgotten its role as an upscale shopping magazine.

Octavius black, chief executive at consultancy MindGym, says that diversity is important for business. "Not only does it make moral sense, but also good business sense" he adds. Black, who co-founded MindGym with a psychologist knows a lot about behavioural sciences. "We know inclusive companies outperform their non-inclusive counterparts. Some of these issues, however, can be polarising because it appears that certain protected categories are competing with one another. As we have seen in Scotland, women's rights and rights for transgender people can clash. You run the risk of appealing to a small group, and losing your appeal to other people. It's important to sell your product and show how ethical and responsible you are as a business. But, it is not wise to take a stand on controversial social justice issues. It would be foolish to come out in America for or against abortion. This is not to say it does not matter, but a company's role should not be to make a statement on such issues. Vogue's readers: While progressive views on gender may help attract celebrities, publicists, and advertisers who are eager to enjoy a little reflected diversity in social media, they might not play well with core readers. Vogue's readership is mainly female and older, while the readers of the new countries that Conde Nast wants to expand into, such as India, China and the Middle East may hold more traditional views about social issues. Enninful's approach was deemed to be too risky.

The Telegraph

"It would be foolish to come out in America for - or even against - abortion" - Wintour, a prochoice Democrat, and Vogue, which has editorially supported reproductive choices, abortion and contraception for years, is a good example. Enninful was a progressive editor at British Vogue, and he did a lot to make the magazine more inclusive. But he alienated the core readers. You can say that Enninful attracted younger readers to British Vogue, but what about the core audience of middle-aged women (whites) who are cancelling their subscriptions? Can you "make-up" for those lost subscribers by bringing in new readers? Readers from a younger age group that doesn't buy fashion magazines on newsstands, or a younger gen who has seen the latest collections already on social media. British Vogue's purpose is to provide readers with what they want, or what they require? It's not about waking vs. non-waking, but the changing landscape of print.

Enninful, despite his shrieks of "wokeism," was in fact a political conservative who had suckered up to the UK's white establishment.

Avalon Red provided the photos.