The security guard glanced up from his desk as a black man entered the lobby of Vogue House and headed for the lift. This could not be allowed to happen, he thought - the lift was for staff, not messengers making deliveries. "Hey!" he called. "You need to go in through the loading bay." But the guard had made a false assumption - one that he would soon regret.

The new arrival was not a messenger but Edward Enninful, editor of British VogueVogue is the world's most influential fashion magazine, with editions produced in many different countries. The British one dates from 1916; its first editor was Elspeth Champcommunal, a friend of Virginia Woolf. - the company's most important journalist, and one of the most influential men in world fashion. He immediately complained that he had been racially profiled. The security guard was sacked.

The incident shows how much work there is still to be done in changing racial attitudes. But Enninful's rise to become Vogue's first black (and first male) editor demonstrates how barriers can be broken - and he is determined to open the way for others.

Enninful was born in Ghana in 1972, one of six children. His father was an army major; his mother, who fostered his interest in fashion, was a seamstress. "She loved clothes," he says. "Oh my God, she had peplumsTops with extensions that go over the waist. The name comes from the ancient Greek word for tunic. and headscarves and frills and colour! People were always coming into our home, and she used to pin things all over them; I would sketch for her. My mum would dress them impeccablyFaultlessly. The word comes from the Latin verb "peccare", meaning to sin.."

The family moved to London and settled in Notting Hill. Enninful did well at school, taking A-levels in English literature, politics, and sociology, and his father was determined that he should go into the law. But one day on the Underground he was spotted by a stylist for I-DA British magazine known for promoting street fashion rather than the expensive designer clothes associated with Vogue. who asked if he was interested in modelling. "Two weeks after that, a whole new world opened up. I remember doing the shoot and thinking, 'This is what I want to do. I can't be a lawyer!'"

Soon he was working as an assistant on the magazine, and at just 18 he was made its fashion director. "It was a baptism of fire. I had to style the covers and write the features and the shopping pages. I would work until 4am." At the same time, he managed to complete a three-year course in English Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.

At 26, he started working for Italian Vogue and masterminded an issue featuring only black models. He later joined American Vogue under Anna WintourEditor of American Vogue since 1988. She is famous for her chilly manner, which has earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour"., and in 2011 became fashion and style director of WAn American fashion magazine. It is a spin-off of Women's Wear Daily, the fashion industry's trade magazine.. Among the striking covers, he produced was one of Kate Moss as a nun.

Since taking over at Vogue in 2017, he has made a point of featuring and employing people from ethnic minorities in prominent roles and highlighting social issues.

"My heart goes out to all those families whose relatives have been hurt or killed in gun and knife crimes. No one should ever go through that, ever. But what I can do is create amazing models and be a model for them. I had role models in my father, uncles, brothers. I want to show that there are other gangs, families they can make; their job can become their lives. It's more exciting, less dangerous."

Some say, yes: it has always been an effective way of highlighting important causes. In the 1780s a
Wedgwood brooch showing a kneeling black man in chains became a symbol of the anti-slavery movement. Fashion, Enninful says, "occupies a unique place in the ZeitgeistA German word meaning "spirit of the age"., and it has a singular ability to shift mindsets... I've always wanted to effect change in the world."

Others argue that fashion affects the way that people dress, but not the way that they think. Designers may follow popular movements, but they do not initiate them. When Katharine HamnettAn English designer who has embraced many political causes. She has spoken out against the exploitation of workers in the fashion industry, and the scarcity of black models in catwalk shows. went to a party at 10 Downing Street wearing a T-shirt with a giant anti-nuclear slogan, she attracted a lot of publicity but was simply preaching to the converted.