It was 1968 when Grace Coddington began her career as a fashion editor at British Vogue, going on to cross the pond and spend nearly three decades at Vogue US.
Now in her 80s, Grace joined Chloe in The Run-Through’s studio for a conversation about her latest book, Grace: Now, a massive yellow tome compiling her favorite fashion shoots from the last decade. As Grace recalls, in order to narrow her selection down, she printed out hundreds of images, laid them out on boards, and then made a dummy book, like the one Vogue’s own art department creates for every issue. (“I learned from the best,” Grace says.) When asked if her favorite stories tend to change, she replies, sagely: “One always loves the last one one did.”
In the opening pages of the book, there is a handwritten tribute to Grace’s late friend Michael Roberts, noting that this was the first major project she had worked on without him in decades. “Michael was someone who could complete my sentences,” Grace tells Chloe. “I’d known him since the early ’70s, so he knew my life very well. He could write and he was a visual person too. I wanted to do it in my handwriting because I felt that I was talking to him. I adored him.”
Later, she reflects on how much has changed since the release of R. J. Cutler’s 2009 documentary The September Issue, in which she was inarguably the breakout star. “Fashion shows were getting bigger and bigger and what you saw was grander and grander. Clothes got much bigger.” Everything seems to have grown except for the magazines, Chloe offers. “I don’t feel it’s about more anymore,” Grace reflects. “It seems obscene to be excessive, with all the things happening in the world.”
