A Visible Man

Kenneth, and baby sister Akua. In Ghana, it s common to take the name of the day on which you were born. As I was born near midnight on 22 February, the hospital had one date, and the post office another. So my mother Grace gave me two Ghanaian names: Kobina Kweku, or Tuesday Wednesday, as well as my Christian name, Edward. I was really only Edward in school. Most people called me Asiamah. In Akan, the country s most dominant language after English, it means Blessed Child .

We lived on a military base in Takoradi, a cocoon of pristine order inside the more laid-back city. The base was dotted with neat little stucco bungalows on stilts that we used to run and hide underneath. When I was still quite little, we relocated from Takoradi to the capital city of Accra, where we lived on another base called Burma Camp, just across the road from the sea. It was a similar dynamic: our family living on an island of tidiness surrounded by a city unconcerned by order. Burma Camp looked so organised and perfect to me as a child, with its clipped lawns and freshly painted little houses.

That order hid a darker reality. Ghana suffered from political instability and frequent military coups. Whoever was in charge at the time was often settling scores with whoever came before. Our home was the last in a cluster of cottages, and we had a clear view of a hill that had a string of wooden posts erected on top. That was where they d execute, by firing squad, whoever was considered an enemy of the state. Every few weeks or so we could see it happening from the window of our house: the soldiers would march condemned men with pomp and ceremony, cover their heads with hoods, take aim and fire. We d hear the gunshots crack as their bodies would slump. Oh, is it firing-squad day? we d ask each other. Anything habitual becomes normal when you re

talent and hard work have always been an example, he has strongly contributed in building a new vision, open and modern. Miuccia Prada
 
Edward Enninful is not just a local hero but a globe icon. Steve McQueen
 
Edward s journey is a lesson for the culture and future generations to come. He is an inspiration. Naomi Campbell
 
Edward s story is a true beacon of inspiration, hope, and change for the better. He has blazed a path for so many to follow, which sadly had never been possible before. Claudia Schiffer
 
Anyone interested in what it takes, from a beautiful human being s point of view, to change an industry from within, should read this book. Edward offers an insight only he can. Enjoy it. Share it. Idris Elba
 
I have always had great respect for Edward Enninful . . . I watched him grow, both professionally and as a person, and begin to make his voice heard, with ever greater determination, on important and topical issues. Perhaps one of the very first to speak out on thorny topics in the fashion context, which until recently has preferred to stick to positive conversations only. I believe that now, as editor-in-chief of British Vogue and editorial director for Condé Nast Europe, Edward is carrying out important work, leading change, and challenging the obsolete elements of the fashion system, while never disrespecting the legacy and the goals that fashion has achieved. Giorgio Armani
 
What fun! Kate Moss
 
Inspiring, entertaining, ground-breaking. Munroe Bergdorf

A dazzling debut . . . Readers will relish Enninful s glamorous ascent as much as they will his willingness to detail the ceaseless struggle 'rejections, aggressions both macro- and micro-, overnight flights it took to build a bolder, more inclusive industry. Fashion mavens and forward thinkers alike will be mesmerized. Publishers Weekly

Edward Enninful s passionate leadership has transformed the world of fashion from a very largely white environment into a far more diverse one. His absorbing self-portrait gives us profound insights into growing up black and gay in Ghana, London, and in the fashion media. He is courageously truthful about his own demons and pulls no punches in depicting his battles against racism. It s a terrific and, I think, important book. Salman Rushdie

I thought I had heard it all, but this is a fascinating read even to me and I am probably the oldest still living, still working fashion editor. Edward, as always, speaks from his very large heart. It is a story of how he carved his way through a very tough fashion industry to the top, making a path not only for himself but also for all the young people of color who had not been given a chance. Despite all his hardships as a child and as a teenager, it turns out he was born at exactly the right time. Everything is changing and Edward has been an essential part of the fight. Grace Coddington