WE ♥ GRACE CODDINGTON: Grace A Memoir by Grace Coddington

Beautiful. Willful. Charming. Blunt. Grace Coddington’s extraordinary talent and fierce dedication to her work as creative director of Vogue have made her an international icon. Known through much of her career only to those behind the scenes, she might have remained fashion’s best-kept secret were it not for The September Issue, the acclaimed 2009 documentary that turned publicity-averse Grace into a sudden, reluctant celebrity. Grace’s palpable engagement with her work brought a rare insight into the passion that produces many of the magazine’s most memorable shoots.

With the witty, forthright voice that has endeared her to her colleagues and peers for more than forty years, Grace now creatively directs the reader through the storied narrative of her life so far. Evoking the time when models had to tote their own bags and props to shoots, Grace describes her early career as a model, working with such world-class photographers as David Bailey and Norman Parkinson, before she stepped behind the camera to become a fashion editor at British Vogue in the late 1960s. Here she began creating the fantasy “travelogues” that would become her trademark. In 1988 she joined American Vogue, where her breathtakingly romantic and imaginative fashion features, a sampling of which appear in this book, have become instant classics.

Delightfully underscored by Grace’s pen-and-ink illustrations, Grace will introduce readers to the colorful designers, hairstylists, makeup artists, photographers, models, and celebrities with whom Grace has created her signature images. Grace reveals her private world with equal candor—the car accident that almost derailed her modeling career, her two marriages, the untimely death of her sister, Rosemary, her friendship with Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Liz Tilberis, and her thirty-year romance with Didier Malige. Finally, Grace describes her abiding relationship with Anna Wintour, and the evolving mastery by which she has come to define the height of fashion.

“If Wintour is the Pope . . . Coddington is Michelangelo, trying to paint a fresh version of the Sistine Chapel twelve times a year.”—Time

Grace Coddington has emerged as a pop culture force we can't help but love. And the reasons are plenty. She's been a fashion admirer, participant and influencer. Before she was Vogue's supremely talented Creative Director, she was a successful fashion model. Before she was a model, she was a dedicated consumer of the fantasy world pages of Vogue, just like us.

In The September Issue, we get a chance to see Coddington in action. The Grace we had seen so often in photos comes to life. Surprise: she's the fire to Anna Wintour's ice. Grace sticks to her guns. It's a trait that Wintour admires. We admire it, too.

But even still, it is with Grace: The Memoir that we get to hear Grace's voice tell her own stories. We also get to see her charming, personality-filled drawings that illustrate the stories of her life. Yes, her stories are populated with larger than life celebrities like Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss and Madonna. But the stories come from Grace who remains fiercely Grace. Talented Grace. Witty Grace. Bluntly honest Grace who admits to loving cats, and doesn't hide big fashionista sunglasses or routine plastic surgery.

Grace Coddington for decades, has made it easy to fall in love with what we see on the pages of a magazine. And now we love the creative vision behind it all.

April is Grace Coddington's month. Happy Birthday, Grace. We heart you.