Grace Coddington is one of fashion’s most influential (and likely the most beloved) editors, renowned for transforming photographic editorials into storybookesque narratives- a signature she pioneered in the 1970’s at British Vogue.
Despite the fact that multitudinous magazines have since adopted her technique, it is impossible to replicate Grace’s witty, modern whimsy.
"I like fairy tales, and I like dreaming. I try to weave the reality into the dream," she articulates. "When readers pick up Vogue, I want them to smile. Everything should be a little tongue in cheek, a little dare-to-go-there."
The legendary fashion photographer Arthur Elgort- who has oft globetrotted with Coddington scouting captivating shoot venues- interjects:
"There are a lot of hit-and-run editors, but Grace follows an idea from its conception to it actually going to print. The job isn't over until she has seen all the pictures and has annoyed the art department, when she presents an idea to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, she fights for it. “
Grace maintains that “[Anna and I] trust each other. We argue like crazy, but I think she respects me, and I certainly respect her."
Their utmost friction is merely the placement of celebrities within the magazine.
"There are no models on covers anymore. They're all actors because they're what sells," remarks Coddington. "An actor often dictates what you're going to get. I find that annoying. And I'm incredibly shy, so they scare the pants off me. But I feel perfectly comfortable with the models. They're like my kids."
Grace won a Vogue modeling contest at eighteen and quickly scampered off to London from her hometown of Anglesey, a remote Welsh island where her parents headed up a hotel.
Abandoning a highly lucrative career as a leading model on the sixties London scene (alongside such swinging contemporaries as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton), Coddington signed on at British Vogue in 1968 as a junior fashion editor.
Within no time she established herself on the other side of the camera, coordinating photoshoots with the likes of Cecil Beaton, Sarah Moon, David Bailey, Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin.
A close working relationship with royal photographer Norman Parkinson produced a series of startlingly vibrant location shoots that are now considered classics.
It was here that Grace took the fashion world by storm with her sweeping narrative epic, richer coloration and an elegantly eclectic sense of style: familiar features of her work du jour at American Vogue.
Grace continued her panaramic romanticism at British Vogue until 1987, when Calvin Klein hired her to be his design director.
In 1993, Coddington held a retrospective show called Short Stories, the first ever from a fashion editor’s expert perspective.
She then set sail for American Vogue the following year and became the creative director in 1995, a position she still holds today.
(read less)Grace Coddington is one of fashion’s most influential (and likely the most beloved) editors, renowned for transforming photographic editorials into storybookesque narratives- a signature she pioneered in the 1970’s at British Vogue.
Despite the fact that multitudinous magazines have since adopted her technique, it is impossible to replicate Grace’s witty, modern whimsy.
"I like fairy tales, and I like dreaming. I try to weave the reality into the dream," she articulates. "When readers pick...
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