Grace Coddington Steps Down As Creative Director of Vogue
Grace Coddington. Photo: Getty Images
After 30 years as the creative director of Vogue, Grace Coddington, 74, is stepping down. Or perhaps to put it more succinctly, stepping aside. She will continue to work with the world’s most influential fashion magazine on a creative director at large basis. In typical Conde Nast fashion, she will retain an office and an assistant at 1 World Trade, and will be responsible for contributing four big stories a year.
“I really love Vogue, it’s been in my life always, they discovered me as a model at 19,” Coddington told Business of Fashion. “I’m not running away from Vogue, because it has opened so many doors. But it will be nice to collaborate, and nice to go out [and] give talks to people. It’s just another approach. I’m certainly not going into retirement. I don’t want to sit around.”
So what does this mean for the almighty Coddington? Freedom! She has become quite the attraction since appearing in The September Issue where she essentially played the good cop to Anna Wintour’s steely ways. The reaction from that film prompted her to write her biography, Grace, in 2012 which was an instant hit. Meanwhile Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue — the tome which encompasses her best shoots at the fashion publication — is being reissued this fall after 14 years. No word yet on whether we can expect a sequel to Catwalk Cats, her adorable collection of drawings of her favorite felines.
Coddington, who has worked with every major photographer on the planet including Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber, and more, has also retained an agent for the first time. She is now being represented by Great Bowery, a newly formed super-agency based in New York City. Her first matter of business? A fragrance of course. Every superstar should have one. She’ll be partnering with her Comme des Garçon for the release of her signature scent. How sweet.
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