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To celebrate his 25 year milestone in the fashion industry, W magazine's Edward Enninful has collaborated with Beats by Dre and SHOWstudio's Nick Knight on an explosive, Internet-themed video that marries fashion with music and technology.
But instead of focusing on his past achievements in fashion — most notably his involvement in Vogue Italia's historic 2008 "All Black" issue — "The Seven Deadly Sins of Edward Enninful" is a colorful ode to the changing technological landscape of fashion through the eyes of the notable style director.
The video's focus on the internet and social media is entirely intentional, according to Enninful.
"I thought it would fun to take something so biblical like the seven deadly sins, but interpret it in today's digital age — trolling, envy, and all of these sex apps where people are sort of desensitized," Enninful said in an interview with Racked at New York's Surrey Hotel.
The 13 minute-long video, directed by Knight, styled by Enninful, and narrated by the rapper Travis Scott, is an intense visual journey starring an insane cast of eight old-school supermodels tapped by Enninful to portray the famous sins. There's Naomi Campbell as pride, Kate Moss as lust, Mariacarla Boscono as sloth, and Karen Elson playing wrath. Fittingly, gluttony required two models: Lara Stone and Ana Ewers. Enninful also threw in some slightly newer faces, like Karlie Kloss for greed and Jourdan Dunn for envy.
But technology isn't all lust and evil. Enninful points out that the internet has not only shaped the way we look at the models and designers of this generation, it has also played a major role in diversifying the fashion industry.
"In the past, there wasn't much information being shared abroad — from Paris to New York, from New York to Milan — in the fashion industry," Enninful said. "But I feel like now, with social media, you just sort of know what's going on in the world. You are so aware."
That awareness has helped open up fashion's doors. When it comes to minorities in fashion, Enninful — who has spoken openly about racial exclusion in the industry — feels people get stuck on the visibility of models of color on the runway and in editorials, when in actuality, lack of diversity spans across the board.
"We need education. There need to be internships, there need to be programs. For me, a society that's diverse ultimately has more of an interesting point of view than one that is entirely one-sided," he said. "I really believe in fighting for behind the scenes so things can really change not just on the surface level."
Technology can only help. You can watch the video today at SHOWstudio here.