Inside Edward Enninful’s Creative Empire: The Untold Secrets Behind His Unstoppable Rise

Ever wondered what it takes to not just play the fashion game, but to flip the entire board on its head? Edward Enninful has been doing just that since he was barely out of his teens—imagine being crowned the world’s youngest fashion director at 18. From i-D magazine to British Vogue, this guy’s career is a masterclass in breaking molds and setting new standards. And now, he’s stepping into the designer’s shoes with Moncler Genius, crafting what he calls “the wardrobe for a fashionable global adventurer.” Think dystopian survival gear meets high fashion—puffer jackets turned into hooded capes, matte trench coats ready for any storm, and those sculpted scuba dresses? Pure genius. This collection isn’t just about looking good; it’s about thriving in extremes—sand, snow, wind and all. So, how does a stylist-turned-designer bring such a vivid narrative to life? And what fuels the endless well of inspiration that keeps Enninful forever breaking the rules? Ready to dive into the mind of a true fashion polymath? LEARN MORE

6 min read

Edward Enninful doesn’t just play the game, he changes the game. That’s true of his career which includes being anointed the world’s youngest fashion director at the age of 18 at i-D magazine by its founder Terry Jones, as well as his work as the style director of W magazine to his era-defining tenure at British Vogue where he brought the color and creativity of the UK to a global stage. To Enninful, who recently announced EE72, his multimedia endeavor, polymathism is natural. His work as a stylist, editor and creative catalyst all feel distinctive by wholly their own. Bold imagery, an air of fantasy and that innate sense of what makes a woman want to go out and look her best.

Enninful’s newest endeavor sees him join the Moncler Genius roster of designers and multihyphenates joining the likes of newly-installed Balenciaga designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, Donald Glover and Simone Rocha, in what he describes as “the wardrobe for a fashionable global adventurer.” The collection reimagines Moncler’s signature technical puffer jackets as a nylon laqué hooded cape, matte trench coats and sculpted scuba dresses, showcased in a campaign by photographer Tyler Mitchell and model Adut Akech that places Enninful’s Moncler in dystopian terrain of extremities. Sand, wind and snow with the collection able to withstand it all.

As the collection releases globally today, Bazaar discusses his turn from stylist to designer, his process bringing the collection to life and Enninful’s ever-present craving for inspiration.

Tell me about your relationship to Moncler, which I know kind of spans back a little amount of time now. Can you talk to me about how that started and why it was a perfect partner for you?

I’ve always had such respect for Remo [Ruffini]. We’ve known each other for years. He sort of created this whole idea of collaboration where I’m concerned. I was an editor going to these shows, just admiring his timing and the creativity and what he created. And it was one of those companies, I thought, if I ever get asked to do it, I’ll jump at it. And then when I left British Vogue, he was literally the first person to approach me to work on the collection, and it was a no brainer for me.

You’ve envisioned this wardrobe of a fashionable global adventurer, and as someone who’s observed from afar, you always have quite a clear concept and storytelling in mind. Tell me about how you turned that into a fashion design. I think it’s really singular to the way that you create.

For me, I’ve always said over the years that I could never just pick clothes and create a shoe, even if it was in a studio. There had to be a story behind it. There had to be a narrative. I’ve always been a storyteller. Who’s the character? What’s her inner life? Almost like when you’re a child playing and you give these characters where they live, that becomes a location. It applies to the hair and makeup and a location. And the clothes for me are always at the end.

With this collaboration, I was obsessed with The Last Of Us and the idea of that world ending, and I was really in that zone. And I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if the collection was based on survivalism. I had this whole idea of this woman that’s in the tundra against all the elements. And I remember having my first design meeting and thinking you have to dress her from the base. Then we started with knitted pieces, and then the shirts on top. And with each we had the big Moncler coats to the floor, with accessories and hats. So it was really a great way of creating a collection. It was very clear and only Moncler can really create a total wardrobe.

I read that this is your first foray into fashion design, which seems surprising and feels a bit semantic in a sense, because you do create looks. You really are well versed, obviously, in doing that. But I guess I wanted to understand now that it’s said and done, what would be the differences in those processes for you?

I feel like as an editor and a stylist, you do advertising, and you style campaigns. You do editorials, which is sort of where your mind gets to run wild, and you create fantastical narratives. Then you work with designers to help them with their fashion shows. And I’ve worked with everybody you could think of from Donatella [Versace] to Dolce and Gabbana. You are there as a sounding board, you’re there as a researcher, you’re there as a parent, sometimes emotional support! What was really great about this was like, okay, here I can let my imagination go wild and create amazing clothes that people can wear. I remember purposely saying that I wanted women to be able to wear what I was going to work on. T I never lost sight of the woman. And thinking how can she break things up? So you have the big coats, but you put a jean under it, or a long skirt. You have the little puffer jacket, you put it with a floor length skirt. It’s very malleable and it’s for everyday living. At the party in New York, Miley Cyrus walked on stage wearing the ribbed tank top and her leggings. Each piece was really sort of adaptable for your day. I really wanted to create essential pieces that could work every day.

I want to talk a little bit about the collection of images. With Tyler Mitchell behind the lens and Adut Akech modeling. It’s in keeping with your creative legacy, which is always to champion newness and to champion Black talent in particular.

I’ve known Tyler since he first came out. He is the sweetest, most talented photographer, one of the best we have out there. The minute we worked on the collection, I knew we had to be him. I wanted him to sort of create a visual world for our collection. So I literally told him the story, a world where sand and snow existed together. And already my mind was blown. Tyler, he’s always about natural beauty. So I thought, he’s going to create this world that was so magical. And then we had to find the right model to encompass. And Adut I joke, is my honoree daughter first. In Paris, she asked me to come to dinner to meet her friend, and that’s how I met Tyler. Adut is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life. Such an incredible strength of spirit. She’s who she is. She’s not afraid to speak her mind. And then I wanted the makeup artist to also be black, the hairdresser. So it was really an all Black team.

Photographer Tyler Mitchell and Model Adut Akech behind the scenes

You’ve transcended so many things, now, adding fashion designer. How you find the inspiration and the energy to keep creatively peeling back the layers?

I have been around for a very long time, but I mean, I’m just passionate about what I do. I’m passionate about fashion. I’m passionate about clothes. My mother was a dressmaker, so I’m passionate about that aspect. I live and breathe it. I always have a detriment to other things in my life over the years. I always rise up to challenges. I will say I’ve always had to go to places that I had to make work, whether I was with designers, whether I was with magazines, I had to arrive at a place and just make it work. That and I’m obsessed with what women are wearing on the street, what men are wearing. I’m obsessed with what’s going on in the wild, and I sleep very early and I wake up very early. I can’t, don’t even want to miss one hour of sunlight.

What message do you give to people to constantly stay as inspired and as motivated as you are?

The thing is you have to stay engaged. You have to stay engaged with the world. You have to stay engaged with people. You have to keep up. I keep up with everything. I keep up with social media. I keep up with who’s doing something in the world. I keep up with the influence. I need to feed my mind, my eyes, whatever you want to say. So you have to just keep wanting to learn. I never, for one second think I’ve learned everything there is to know. I always feel like a student, and I always say, have a good group of people around you. Pat McGrath, Naomi, these were people who were just around me in a support system. So be curious, be unafraid and when you’ve done it enough, you develop a certain kind of fearlessness.