Edward Enninful’s memoir gives the impression of someone in perpetual motion. He has, after all, made the journey from refugee to the hallowed offices of Condé Nast, becoming the editor-in-chief who brought true diversity to the pages of British Vogue. Make it past the preface, notable for the number of names dropped in one particularly glitzy passage, and you’ll find a text more intimate in tone and easier to relate to, emotionally at least.
The story begins with his middle-class childhood in 1980s Ghana. We’re given fascinating, deftly sketched insights into the experiences of a dreamy, imaginative boy growing up on an army base in Accra under the stern eye of his father, a major in the Ghanaian army. Enninful’s mother, an enterprising and talented dressmaker, is the comforting counterweight. He credits time spent in her studio and visits to measure clients for new gowns with teaching him how to talk to women about style and how to empower them to experiment.
