Grace Coddington is one of these rare fashion editors capable of truly taking a fresh and bold look on fashion, luxury, and beauty!

Grace Coddington: The Eye of Vogue

Behind the fashion images and, as a matter of fact, behind the attitude of the time, hide the wise eye of fashion editors. Grace Coddington is one of them! For 30 years, she breathed into the pages of Vogue a narrative that has become emblematic.

Now that fashion seems to be stuck into its own myths, the work of Vogue’s creative director is essential in order to move forward.

And even if this selection of beautiful books is an indispensable gold mine for professionals and creative aspirants in the field, it is important to look back on the aura and impact of the images inspired by Grace Coddington!

Because during her 30 years as Fashion Editor for Vogue, Grace Coddington has, like no other, brought together storytelling, cinema, and glamor and inspired fashion! Decadent or gloomy, mysterious, or jolly — the fashion editorial through Grace Coddington’s eye always tells a story! And what stories…

Her affinity with the natural scenery, the large wild or grandiloquent spaces of the emblematic places takes over the somewhat fictitious backgrounds of the studios. Grace Coddington knew how to surround herself with photographers each time more brilliant to capture the themes that are dear to her heart.

This situation often meant abandoning the magazine’s commercial concerns to better let their common creativity explode! Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, David Sims, Arthur Elgort, Peter Lindbergh, Craig Mcdean but also Annie Leibovitz and Ellen von Unwerth are only few names among the talents that shaped Grace Coddington’s vision.

Precisely, a vision nourished by history, cinema, literature, theatre, and a creative zest that belongs only to her!

Grace Coddington was the iconic fashion editor of this era -now considered a golden age- where Vogue magazine could still send a whole team all over the world to capture the very fantasy of fashion and she offered the most memorable images.

How does one become the eye and mind behind the most relevant aesthetic narratives of our time? In this book, Grace Coddignton reveals her personal journey, her intimate vision of life and fashion. Because what is certain is that Grace Coddington knew how to bound her life to that of Vogue magazine, to the point of projecting her most acclaimed fantasies!

The Aesthetic Grace Coddington

“Alice in Wonderland is one of the most important fashion stories I’ve ever made. It was Anna who suggested that all the main creators impersonate the characters in the story and be incorporated into the photos, while Annie and I had fun associating them with their counterparts from this storybook.

At the time, I found myself so committed to the project that I often felt as though I had fallen into the rabbit’s den,” said, not so long ago, Grace Coddington, who was asked about her most iconic editorial.

And this editorial is certainly one of the most breathtaking of the magazine. Produced in the early 2000s, the series ‘Alice in Wonderland’ shot by Annie Leibovitz imposed therefore Natalia Vodnianova as the eternal Alice. But there is more.

Indeed, Helmut Lang did the setting: Stephen Jones as The Mad Hatter, Olivier Theyskens as Lewis Carroll, Tom Ford as The White Rabbit, Christian Lacroix as The March Hare, or John Galliano as The Queen of Hearts. The fashion sphere has come together to make this editorial more than just an introduction to the fashion of the season, an introduction to what fashion itself is!

A true ode to creativity, Grace Coddington’s editorials are as disruptive as they inspire. One of the proofs is the «Brief Encounter,” with Natalia Vodianova and Sean Combs, photographed by Annie Leibovitz in 2010.

And since in order to grasp the immensity of her impact on fashion history one must see all of Grace Coddington’s work, we can only suggest to browse with passion through the beautiful book co-directed by the fashion editor herself. Grace: The American Vogue Years.

Fashion in its most expressive manifestation takes meaning in the course of the many anecdotes that fill the story of these epic, irreverent and ultimately very, very inspired editorials!