First published 2012
Grace Coddington opens her world to readers after spending decades as fashion's most influential figure behind the scenes. The creative director of Vogue became an unexpected celebrity following the 2009 documentary The September Issue, which captured her passionate work creating the magazine's most memorable fashion shoots. Coddington traces her journey from the early modeling days when she carried her own props to shoots, working with legendary photographers like David Bailey and Norman Parkinson. She moved behind the camera in the late 1960s as a fashion editor at British Vogue, developing the fantasy travelogue shoots that became her signature style. In 1988 she joined American Vogue, where her romantic and imaginative fashion features established her reputation. The book reveals her private struggles alongside professional triumphs: a car accident that nearly ended her modeling career, two marriages, her sister Rosemary's death, and her thirty year romance with Didier Malige. Coddington describes her complex working relationship with Anna Wintour and reflects on the creative process that has defined high fashion for generations.
Genres: biography, art, autobiography, memoir, 21st-century, fashion
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: behind-the-scenes, unexpected-celebrity
Setting: America, Britain, Vogue
Period: 1960s, 1988, 2009
416 pages · Hardcover · Random House