Sarah Harris has long been woven into the fabric of fashion media, her perspective subtly shaping how we see and speak about style. After more than two decades as Deputy Editor and Fashion Features Director at British Vogue, she steps into new territory—independent publishing—as the inaugural Editorial Director of 72 Magazine, a collectible culture and fashion quarterly launching in fall 2025 under Edward Enninful’s global media and entertainment company, EE72.
72 arrives not simply as a magazine, but as an artifact—a tactile expression of empathy and provocation, designed to be kept, handled, and returned to. Each issue is approached as a conversation: a meeting point for artists, designers, and individualists mapping the next era of fashion and meaning, exploring how ideas form and what can move culture forward.
Its winter issue opens with a double cover featuring South Sudanese model Ajus Samuel alongside new work by Nick Knight. Guided by Harris’s editorial instinct, the publication aims to reject legacy media conventions that often narrow creative ambition: no advertisements, no constraints, no safety cushion.
Sitting with Sarah Harris, in dialogue with our Editor-in-Chief Sasha Kovaleva, we turned our gaze toward what the future of print—and fashion—might dare to become.
Sasha Kovaleva: What has drawn you to the fashion and editorial world for so long? And conversely, what are the aspects of it that frustrates you the most?
Sarah Harris: For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to work at a magazine. I used to make magazines at home; I used to buy them, cut them out, create my own magazines, rip out pages, and stick them onto my walls. It’s something that I’ve literally always seen myself doing since I was a young kid.
Speaking now, one of the most frustrating aspects of the fashion and editorial world today is how much brilliant creative work gets constrained by external pressures—whether that’s advertising demands, commercial partners, or the constant need to perform for digital metrics. You come into this industry because you love storytelling, you love creating images, and you love creating something powerful that might shift a mood or inspire someone. But so often, you spend more time negotiating what you can’t do rather than exploring the things you can.
Another challenge lately is definitely the pace. Fashion now moves so fast that it increasingly feels like an industry built on burnout rather than magic. Generally, people in this world are becoming more risk-averse, which, in turn, can squash creativity.
SK: With you and Edward Enninful at the helm of the new project EE72, what kinds of voices and stories are you most excited to bring to light? What is it about the concept of EE72 that convinced you to fully invest your energy and vision into it, leaving Condé Nast?
SH: I was at Vogue for 22 years—a very long time, and I had a great career there. The highlight, without a doubt, was working with Edward during the six years that he was editor. When he left, by that point, I was ready for something new, something different. At Vogue I worked as his deputy editor and so we collaborated closely from the start. He’s an incredible boss—inspiring, inclusive, and completely without ego.
At the time I was looking for a new challenge, I had just had my second daughter. Around the same time, Edward was leaving Vogue and shared his idea for a new project, asking, “Would you be interested in doing it with me?” My response was immediate: “Absolutely”. For me, it was a no-brainer. It wasn’t a hard decision for me.
AJUS
Photography by DAN JACKSON
