This is Michael Maxwell with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I am recommending A Visible Man, a memoir by British Vogue editor Edward Enninful.
Enninful grew up in Ghana before immigrating with his siblings to Britain during the 1980s. As a young person with an interest in fashion, Enninful found himself in awe of his mother who worked as a seamstress- creating beautiful West African garments for other members of the Ghanian diaspora in London. During a fateful ride on the Tube, Enninful is scouted by a man who becomes his ticket into the competitive fashion industry that he would one day rise to the top of.
Many of us are familiar with nightmarish, Devil Wears Prada-esque stories of working in the fashion industry, and Enninful doesn’t gloss over the negative- however, he focuses his narrative on personal triumphs and moments that remind you that fashion is an artform that requires as much creativity, genius, and hard work as any other medium.
Throughout his climb to the peak of his industry, Enninful has made a concentrated effort to extend a hand in order to uplift those who’ve come after him. He has been a driving force in his industry’s efforts to be more inclusive, and he considers it his mission to bring new voices into the fashion conversation.
Readers encounter stories of a man who had to guide his ship through uncharted waters, from the insidious and omnipresent evils of racism to the unprecedented challenge of guiding a magazine with world-wide readership through a global pandemic.
I found A Visible Man to be one of the most inspiring memoirs I have read recently, and it made me feel refreshed and ready to do my part in making the world a better place.
Check out A Visible Man by Edward Enninful at the Sioux City Public Library today!
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