Vogue editor says thin fashion models do, in fact, eat

The fashion industry may be changing its ways, but there’s still a long way to go.

British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful claims that models do actually eat and aren’t as stick-thin as was the standard in the 1990s.

“There’s a misconception that fashion people don’t eat, but that’s not true,” Enninful, 49, said on the “River Cafe Table 4” podcast.

He then admitted that the industry still has much work to do to be body inclusive and more racially diverse, but it’s making strides.

“When you look at, at least, my Vogue anyway, everybody’s welcome. All shapes, all sizes, all colors,” he said, adding that “everybody’s all so welcoming” when including body diversity.

“That strict thing of not being able to be a certain size, ‘being size zero is the perfect size,’ that doesn’t exist anymore,” Enninful said.

The Ghanian-British editor continued, “Even the idea of being a model has changed. You can be short, you can be curvy, you can be disabled.”

American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour with Edward Enninful.AFP via Getty Images

Enninful acknowledged that the industry is changing “slowly” and “it’s not perfect.” He also suggested that the Black Lives Matter movement has forced brands to understand “they have to hire people from diverse backgrounds behind the scenes.”

“Conversations that are being had now never would have been had about 10 years ago,” he said.

Enninful took over the role of EIC for the British publication in 2017, following Alexandra Shulman’s departure, who was at the helm of the iconic publication for 25 years prior.

The British offshoot of American Vogue had only featured 12 black models on its covers during Shulman’s tenure.

Enninful with friend and model Naomi Campbell.GC Images

Enninful’s close friend and catwalk queen Naomi Campbell shared an Instagram photo in 2017 showing Schulman’s mainly white staff, writing, “looking forward to an inclusive and diverse staff now that @edward_enninful is the editor.”

Campbell, 51, was the first black model to appear on the cover of French Vogue and Time magazine.

The supermodel spoke about the diversity in the fashion world with Reuters in 2019, noting how important it is for fashion to catch up with the world.

“It’s finally … sunken in but now we hope people don’t think it’s in for a trend, like clothes are in for a season and out for a season, that’s not going to happen.”