Speaking earnestly, I only know who Grace Coddington is because of Netflix Instant and the documentary The September Issue. Pre-The September Issue, I cared very little about fashion and the fashion industry, despite having a number of friends in that world. Post-The September Issue, I have a wild respect for what I think is the weirdest facet of the entertainment and art industry. That is all due to Grace Coddington – the creative director at American Vogue.
Grace is some sort of cultural anomaly – she’s a Pre-Raphaelite painting, a Jane Austin character, an acquaintance of Fitzgerald. She’s a voice and sound of reason from a different era. Her presence in The September Issue, a film documenting the creation of the September issue of Vogue magazine, is so commanding and the most memorable. She has the ideals, values, romanticism, and work ethic we all aspire to attain, so we, however inaccurate, see ourselves in her.
Thankfully, she has finally published her memoirs – Grace: A Memoir. The book details her childhood, an idyllic-seeming scene from a Brontë novel, her modeling career, her personal tragedies, her move to magazine fashion directing, her tremendous love life, her settling in America, and her adoption of multitudes of felines.
Throughout, Grace illustrates (literally with sketches like the one above and with her words) snippets from her life with such humor and awareness; it’s really just an underlining theme of the book. There is no one in the fashion world as comically aware of their surroundings as Grace Coddington. She’s always been a true visionary and realist. Her honesty is marvelously refreshing, and she gives credit where credit is due. The amount of names she drops is staggering, and Grace does it with such gratitude – everyone mentioned is praised and applauded for the work and contributions to her career.
I’m at a point in my life when I need inspiration, people. Thankfully, this book came along. Fashion snob or not, Grace’s memoirs awaken the natural creative in an era when not much is natural.
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