British Vogue is entering a whole new chapter. It’s been all change after Edward Enninful bowed out as the prestigious title’s last editor-in-chief when he released an epic final issue in March, not long after the team had said goodbye to their residence of 65 years, Vogue House. And no-one could be more ready for these seismic changes than the title’s new Head of Editorial Content, Chioma Nnadi.
“It’s a shift that makes sense,” Nnadi told the Standard at the launch of her first issue, covered by musician FKA Twigs, on March 14. “There’s so many more facets to the job than there used to be.” The main one being the rise of social media and the digital age challenging the relevance of print. “I come from a very digital-first background, so I’m thinking of telling stories from a completely different perspective,” she says.
London-born Nnadi got her first journalism job at ES Magazine as a junior features writer, but has spent most of her career across the pond in New York City. There, she started at an indie mag called Trace before moving to American Vogue, where she eventually climbed to editor of Vogue.com.
It was Anna Wintour who steered her back to London to take on her role at British Vogue. “I remember one of the first talks was in Paris,” Nnadi says. “It was nerve-wracking, but you know when you get butterflies in your stomach and you know this is meant to be.”
So, how smooth was the transition to one of the most coveted job in the British fashion media? Nnadi says it was made a lot easier by the support of her predecessors. “[Edward Enninful] gave me great advice. Anna [Wintour] has been such a support as well. She’s always been about trusting your instincts and she’s a great sound board for ideas.”
The appointment was made official in October 2023 and Nnadi had a front cover and first issue to plan. “When I had to start coming up with ideas and dream big, it was really exciting,” she says. Adding, “I did agonise over it.”
The lightbulb moment for the cover came at Vogue World in September, before anyone knew Nnadi was going to inherit the magazine’s top job. Singer-songwriter and dancer FKA Twigs performed at the event and a chance conversation with Wintour afterwards cemented the idea in Nnadi’s mind.
“She [Wintour] was actually one of the people who suggested Twigs after seeing her performance. We had a conversation, and I was like ‘oh, she gets it,’” Nnadi recalls. “Twigs is the woman of the moment and brings two things together that I love the most: music and fashion.”
But, as Nnadi’s title reminds us, it’s not just about the cover or the print product. While running the magazine she says her focus going to be on, “Thinking about how we connect with a younger audience. Thinking about how we can deepen our relationship with our audience on different platforms.”
Under her leadership, she hopes to keep British Vogue on pace with the fast-moving online world, and to translate the language of Vogue across different digital media so that everyone can feel connected to it.
“It’s about making sure we’re not this exclusive closed-door institution but we’re a place where people can feel a sense of community and people can feel like they have access to the editors and to our events,” Nnadi says.
“We’ve been trying a lot of new ideas on TikTok to let people into our world. It’s important we bring people into things like the BAFTAs and the Met,” she says. “I think the audience is ready.”
Will she ever feel nostalgic for the building where it all began? “As far as leaving Vogue House, well, for me it’s nice to have a fresh start. I really like the Adelphi, there’s lots of light, I have a great view of the Thames. I’m not complaining.”
