British Vogue casts 40 women to appear on Edward Enninful’s final issue

British Vogue wrangled 40 of the world’s most ‘booked and beautiful women’ to pose for the outgoing editor-in-chief’s final cover, but there was someone noticeably absent.

Jane Fonda and Oprah Winfrey. Picture: British Vogue

Edward Enninful’s next job should be organising the Brisbane Olympics.

The outgoing British Vogue editor-in-chief has proved, with the final issue of the magazine he’s edited for seven years, to be not only one of the most important people in fashion, but a master of logistics.

For his swan song, Enninful managed to corral 40 of the world’s most influential, beautiful and powerful women to appear in, and pose at the same time, for the upcoming issue.

The March 2024 cover of British Vogue was released on Friday and features Jane Fonda, Oprah, Serena Williams, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista. “Legendary! 40 Vogue Icons, 1 epic shoot … The ultimate fashion,” the cover line reads.

Christy Turlington Burns, Maya Jama, Selma Blair and Precious Lee are among those who feature on the March cover of British Vogue. Picture: British Vogue

The biggest names from fashion, entertainment, music and sport all travelled from London, Milan, Paris and LA to a studio in New York for a 15-minute shoot.

Kate Moss ahead of the March 2024 cover shoot for British Vogue. Picture: Ned Rogers for British Vogue.

In his editor’s note, Enninful outlined how the concept and his final cover came to life. “I knew who I wanted to call. The asks went out. Dozens of them.

“A date was set. I held my breath for weeks. Would 40 of the most booked and blessed women on Earth actually make it to one studio in New York, on one day in December, to take one image together? Spoiler alert: they came.”

Jane Fonda and Oprah Winfrey on set of the historic cover shoot shot by Steven Meisel. Picture: Ned Rogers for British Vogue.

The historic photo was captured by revered photographer Steven Meisel, who mapped out the placements of each of the 40 women with stand-ins. Fittings took two days and 40 hair and makeup artists set up residence at the studio to prepare each of the stars, including Kate Moss, Gigi Hadid, Miley Cyrus and Cindy Crawford along with her model daughter, Kaia Gerber.

The image showcases the largest number of women ever photographed for a Vogue cover and all who gathered for the history-making frame have previously featured in, and on, the magazine during Enninful’s tenure.

There was one glaring omission, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, who guest-edited an issue in 2019, which caused controversy. Touted as “forces of change”, it featured numerous powerful women including former New Zealand prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, but omitted Markle’s grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.

Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle was invited to guest edit an issue of British Vogue by Enningul. Picture: British Vogue.

Markle was not among the 40 women to grace the new issue, that will be released next week.

As well as having royalty involved, other firsts Enninful implemented included featuring the first octogenarians on the cover in Dame Judi Dench and Miriam Margolyes. He also booked US actor Laverne Cox, the first out trans person to front Vogue.

Enninful will take up a new global adviser role with publisher Conde Nast.

After six and a half years and 153 cover stars behold #EdwardEnninful’s final edition of #BritishVogue. When the idea for the cover was ignited, there was only one question: would 40 of the most booked and blessed women on earth actually make it to one studio in Manhattan, on one… pic.twitter.com/50RS0ddCLS

— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) February 8, 2024