My mother and father just taught me the basics: to be really kind, to really listen to people. I have never been one to put on airs and graces.
— Edward Enninful
I grew up in an African household, so lots of chicken, lots of rice. We ate Jollof rice, a very West African dish.
I'd never seen anything like it in my life. Someone so blatantly challenging the ideas of race and gender and sexuality. In a way, it was comparable to David Bowie, except that Prince brought that to the black community.
The fashion industry needs to breed a whole different way of thinking. We need more diverse people working in all facets of the industry.
Being an immigrant and living in England, I feel like I lived in two worlds. There was the world that, when I was at school with my friends, was very English, and then I'd go home to another country, with exotic foods and colours. I have a sense of colour pairings, and that came from my background, I think.
I'm very proud of the world that's embracing all these different ideas of what it is to be diverse, in 2017.
There's a lot of research and time that goes into my shoots. I spend weeks on them, even for one picture.
People like me thought America was the best place to be creative, to be free to create, to have the freedom to be who you are.
I was very honoured to be awarded an OBE in 2016 for my services to diversity in the fashion industry.
I come from a family who didn't have much money but raised me to believe that money wasn't the most important thing in the world. We had enough; we were happy.
I am black in a predominantly white industry, and I have been luckier than most.
I learned that fashion was about more than fancy images. That there was a business side as well.
Change always takes time.
When you start out in the industry and things are tough, and you're not really making money, you question yourself: should I give up?
I am definitely allergic to wheat. Every time I eat it, I feel awful.
I felt like I grew up with Bowie. I never dressed like him, even though I did love the music, but consistently throughout my career he has been a go-to reference point: The suit from 'Young Americans,' or the gold Missoni-type looks of Ziggy Stardust. 'The Berlin Years' still influences me.
Never forget that it sometimes takes a foreigner's eye to capture Britain most clearly.
When I was 18 years old, I moved into Neneh Cherry's house in Kensal Rise with Judy Blame and our friend Michael Boadi.
I didn't know anything about the fashion industry until I met the stylist Simon Foxton on a Tube. I was 16, on my way to Kingsway College, and then my whole world opened up. Before that, like in every African family, you are meant to be a lawyer.
Prince was not scared. The first time I heard someone sing about AIDS, it was Prince: 'In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name.' He was not afraid of taboos.
I like to play with contrast. It's about changing people's perceptions of people.
A queen does not wear clothes off the runways.
By people getting together and celebrating this idea of togetherness, great things can happen.
You never know where inspiration is going to come from.
When I was growing up, David Bowie was my idol. I grew up in inner-city London, and he was from Brixton, which is even more urban.
In my work, I have always tried to push the boundaries of what fashion can do.
