Over the weekend, I tried to throw water on the gossip that Edward Enninful was stepping down from British Vogue because of a rift with Anna Wintour. The story, at the time, was that Enninful was moving from editor-in-chief to a looser, more advisory role with Conde Nast’s international Vogue editions. I honestly didn’t know that Enninful’s departure as EIC was going to be this… dramatique. My bad! The Times had a piece about how this was all one big power struggle behind the scenes and Anna Wintour basically won a game-of-thrones-style battle royale. Some highlights:

Enninful’s email: When Edward Enninful emailed his staff on Friday night, he put a brave face on it. He was stepping down as editor-in-chief of British Vogue, he wrote. Next year, he would be taking a “global advisory position” at the magazine, which would give him “the freedom to take on broader creative projects”. The title was nebulous but the meaning was clear. The never-ending game of thrones at Vogue House had turned spectacularly against him. His predecessor, Alexandra Shulman, had been on the throne for 25 years. After only six, Enninful was out.

Enninful’s tenure at British Vogue: Under Enninful, Vogue put diversity and inclusion at its heart. Some complained that readability fell by the wayside, with Enninful’s interest apparently lying more in styling than editing. Advertisers loved it, although some of his colleagues and employees were soon referring to him as the Queen Mother, The Sunday Times reported, because of his “alleged diva-like behaviour”.

The diva-fest: “Say what you like about Alex Shulman and her ‘posh girls’ but she managed to keep the office egos in check,” one fashion insider says. “Under Edward it has been an absolute diva-fest — fashion PRs report a return to Ab Fab bad behaviour, from staff members jostling for front row seats to tantrums thrown in exotic locations because the menu did not comply with esoteric dietary requirements.” There are even rumours that several of Enninful’s wealthy and well-known friends tried to get their flights and accommodation sponsored by fashion brands instead of paying out of their own pocket.

Wintour did not approve: From the start, there were rumours that the real queen of Condé Nast, Anna Wintour, didn’t think Enninful was qualified for the job. For his part, Enninful made no secret of the fact that he coveted hers. He viewed British Vogue as a momentary stop on his way ultimately to becoming editor of US Vogue, the most important job in fashion. “He did not believe he would have to play second fiddle for much longer to a seventysomething woman,” a confidant told John Arlidge in The Sunday Times. He was wrong.

Years of clashes between Wintour & Enninful: He made a point of hosting separate British Vogue parties and, when the New York Times asked to interview him with Wintour, he declined. He and Wintour clashed over the editorial content of British Vogue, with Wintour putting her foot down when he wanted to make the magazine gender neutral. “Wintour would say ‘Don’t listen to Edward’,” a Vogue insider told The Mail on Sunday. “He would say ‘Don’t listen to Anna’.” Last September, when asked on Vogue’s video series 73 Questions what she thought she would be doing with her life if she weren’t an editor-in-chief, she deadpanned: “Conflict negotiation.”

Overplaying his hand: Ultimately, it seems that Enninful may have overplayed his hand: The Mail on Sunday reported yesterday that he threatened to resign last year unless he was given her job. “Edward shot for the moon and lost,” a friend told The Sunday Times, “and so will go back to his first love, which is being a stylist.” He has told friends that he can make “a lot more money outside Condé Nast than in it”, and has long been frustrated at having to turn down lucrative consultancies because of perceived conflict of interest. Whether money will compensate for not getting the job he so obviously coveted remains to be seen. Maybe one day he’ll stage a comeback. If and when Wintour steps down, perhaps Enninful will head in triumph to New York. For the time being, if he goes to the Met Gala it will be as a guest like anyone else, not the host. With brands including Apple rumoured to be lining him up for big-budget projects, he’ll be crying all the way to the bank.

[From The Times]

Sure. I’ll buy this. Enninful wasn’t the dutiful lieutenant after all, and it was more of an All About Eve situation with Enninful constantly doing the most to marginalize Wintour and eventually overtake her. Here’s the thing I don’t get though – why are there all these references, in all of the reporting and gossip, that Wintour’s position is any way tenuous? From what I’ve seen, she’s accumulated vast control and oversight over many Conde Nast publications and if she doesn’t like what an editor is doing, she alone can get that person fired. Enninful was bonkers to think he could legitimately challenge her power or go behind her back to Conde Nast corporate and issue an ultimatum.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.