Grace: A Memoir

This was such a fun, nostalgic read. The author’s writing style is intimate and fun, like chatting with an old friend. If you lived through the 80s and 90s and were tuned into fashion, this book is a delightful walk down memory lane with an insider’s perspective.

Grace: A Memoir was a relaxing, fun read. No tension, no struggles just a wonderful narrative of her life first as a model during the hip 1960's London and Carnaby Street. Then her story evolves into her life as a fashion editor for high fashion magazines. She started in London and then finally ends up at the American Vogue as the second in command to Anna Wintour. Along the way she describes events and photo shoots with lots of famous models, photographers and gives the reader a very intimate personal entry into the world of high fashion, such as the distant photo shots on mountain tops and secluded private beaches around the world. She herself is a very interesting woman and she has a very strong and positive working relationship with Anna Wintour at American Vogue, which you may know is not known for her warm fuzzy personality. But, Grace can handle her without lots of drama and she does. Anyone who is fascinated by fashion and the way it is communicated to the world will find this an absolute wonderful read. It is well over 400 pages but I zipped through it in two settings because of it's ease with the reader. Worth every penny I paid for it. I would love to meet Grace sometime, I know I would like her, actually I do already. She lives with a interesting man in NYC who was a former hairdresser, someone whose path crossed with hers as they did shoots all over the world.

I know of Grace Coddington from the September Issue, the movie about American Vogue. The iconic scenes for me were her interactions with famous editor Anna Wintour. In this book she discusses her years as a fashion model and her life with the celebrities and fashion innovators of her day. I found the book interesting. She has been so many places and has been a part of the fashion industry for over fifty years. It is a foreign world to me, but fascinating nonetheless. The pictures are beautiful and it is fun to compare them to her descriptions of their conceptions. For me the most interesting parts are her perceptions of beauty. She prefers the quirky to the symmetric and the unadorned when possible. She ages as she ages, and that is a fresh perspective. I always enjoy a retrospective from someone at the top tier of their sphere of influence, and this is such a book.

A lot of the world was introduce to Grace Coddington when the movie, The September Issue, came out about how Vogue puts the greatest issue of the year together. But, if you are a Vogue fanatic (like me) and have access to the internet (like me), you know who the woman behind the vision of the fashion editorials at Vogue is. This is her story. I started out by listening to it as she read and had to buy the book. This woman...this ICON of fashion has been everywhere, done everything and met everyone. She is so humble and it comes through in this book. I've been amazed by her fashion editorial spreads for years but to hear how she decides what to do, how to dress the models, how she wants them to stand, etc. is fascinating. Her early years as a model and the things she's been through in her life make her even more down to earth. I so admire her and all she's done. Keep on keeping on, Grace. I hope you have many more years to make your magic at Vogue.

I just finished this book. I am a little outraged with myself at almost believing the discouraging review here on Amazon that Coddington was not a great writer. Like thats been her job in life! And thats why I gave it the benefit of the doubt and bought it. I actually bought the book because I figured it would be a beautiful, although heavy book, but thats because the paper is thick and sensous. The cover is bright orange to match her amazing hair. There are so many amazing things about this book. No, great writer she isnt but she was smart enough to find a great editor. She herself knows, if nothing else, when something is good and when it is mediocre so I am sure there were many exacting drafts. It was totally entertaining and if you love fashion and creativity and the life it generates then this is the book for you. I was transfixed and even found myself smiling if not laughing outloud. She is very charming. All of this is great but what struck me the very most was none of these things. The most important part of the book was to see the world she came from in the sixties and seventies and the eighties. Without being nostalgic I have to say that I was reminded of an art, a creative world, a cultural aesthetic world and the people who created it and how wholly devoted they were to it. Money was scarce, people were having a blast and what was considered the best was what people got. The best was driven by aesthetic value, not celebrity, social status or money, it was the work of someone who really cared about creative integrity. I roll my eyes as I speak this phrase but there was a time where it did matter and it wasnt ironic and it was respected as the best work. Everyone working in any cultural field today especially under the age of 38 should read this book. Not a story of a better time, just a story of how art looks when it isnt being run by lots of money. When the art is at the top of the list of priority in how something is made.

i enjoyed reading this book but i thought Grace was completely uncritical of the world of fashion. She didn't address anything of substance, just told stories about her shoots and who she knew when. i would have liked to see her have commentary with some teeth but i guess that's how she's been Anna's second for so long. She gets on to get along. But what i did find simultaneously interesting and confusing is her role in the creation of a fashion image/story. I really thought the ideas came more from the photographer, but according to Grace many of the creative ideas for shoots were hers.

Perfetto!

Habe das Buch in einem Tag verschlungen. Über verschiedene Blogs bin ich auf dieses Buch gestoßen und alle anderen Bloggerinnen waren auch schon sehr begeistert. Bin zwar keine Fashion Queen, aber es hat mich einfach trotzdem gefesselt und nicht mehr aus seinem Bann gelassen. Grace erzählt uns ihr Leben von Anfang an und gewährt auch Blicke hinter die Kulissen der Vogue. Auch eine Empfehlung für nicht so modebewusste Menschen. Die Person Grace Coddington ist einfach faszinierend. Jetzt fehlt mir nur noch der Film dazu. Deshalb habe ich mir "The September Issue" auch schon bestellt. Schade, dass ich es schon ausgelesen habe. Es könnte von mir aus die doppelte Seitenanzahl haben.

「ファッションが教えてくれること(The September Issue)」で初めてGrace Coddingtonさんを知りました。映画の中で彼女がプロデュースする写真は本当にロマンティックで言葉にできないくらい素敵で、いったいどんな方なんだろうと思いこの本を購入しました。本書は彼女の生い立ちからキャリアや私生活等の他に様々な写真やイラストも載っていて、それだけでもとて素敵な一冊だと思います(正直もう少し写真あったらいいかなーとも思いましたが)。また、巻末?のselected workの部分に載っている写真がもう本当に素敵で、もう本当に迷ってるなら是非買って読んで見て欲しい１冊です。 最初は3000円ちょっと高くないか....?と思っていましたが、実際に買って読むと本当に値段以上の価値があると思います。サイズが意外と大きくて、届いたときに少し驚きましたが飾っても素敵なサイズだと思います。持ち運びは若干難しいかなと思いますが。。。 とにかく！本当に素敵な1冊です!!

Grace ou Madame Coddington, THE rédactrice de mode. Elle raconte et se dévoile avec grâce. Non, il ne s'agit pas d'un simple livre d'images. Un texte riche accompagne certaines photos, alors que d'autres textes se suffisent à eux-mêmes. Enfin. Oui, la mode, la vraie. Merci Grace. J'ai bien reçu ce livre en excellent état, livré avant la date annoncée. Une adresse à recommander chaudement.

Having watched the documentary film about Vogue, 'The September Issue', and loved it, I was really looking forward to this book. It does not disappoint. I bought it for the kindle, and am still working my way through it. It is a thoroughly engrossing read, about Grace's life, from her home in Wales, to when she became a model, to how she got into the magazine side of things. She has had a very interesting life thus far, and perhaps could have had quite a successful career as a writer, as she tells her tale with wit and insight. At no point during this book did I get bored, or wish to skip ahead; it is very well written. She has also included drawings to illustrate it, alongside photos she has taken in her work, or that were taken of her. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone. She has a dry, sarcastic humour, but is also a romantic at heart. Anyone looking for an insight into the fashion world, the history of modelling/photographry/Vogue/designers in general should read this. With many contacts in the fashion world, Grace traces each of their rises and falls, from Calvin Klein, to Galliano, she seems to know all the big names, and reduces them to the level of people, rather than the grand icons they have become.