Born 1941 on the island of Anglesey in Wales, Grace Coddington is a Welsh former model and former creative director at large of American Vogue magazine. She is known for the creation of large, complex and dramatic photoshoots. A Guardian profile wrote that she “has produced some of fashion’s most memorable imagery. Her pictures might be jolly and decadent or moody and mysterious.”
Grace Coddington as a model in the 1960s
In 1959 at the age of 18, there was a Vogue model competition, and someone submitted her pictures. Coddington ended up winning the Young Model section and was featured in the October issue in a photograph by Norman Parkinson. She then began her modeling career for Vogue.
At the age of 26, Coddington was in car accident that left her with head injuries and a removed eyelid, which was later reconstructed through plastic surgery. Two years after the accident, she was interviewed by British Vogue’s Editor, Beatrix Miller, and was employed as a Junior Editor. After nineteen years as Photo Editor with British Vogue, she moved to New York to work for Calvin Klein. In July 1988, she joined Anna Wintour at American Vogue, where she worked as the magazine’s creative director until 2016.
In 2018 Coddington also partnered with Louis Vuitton on a capsule collection, featuring many designs incorporating her cats.
Take a look at these fabulous photos to see portrait of a young Grace Coddington as a model in the 1960s.
Grace Coddington, 1960
Grace Coddington wearing a Vidal Sassoon hairdo, photo by Terence Donovan, London, February 1961
Grace Coddington, photo by Peter Akehurst, 1961
Grace Coddington in after-six black jersey dress with glittering jet draping from the shoulders by Christian Dior-London, photo by Richard Dormer, Harper’s Bazaar UK, November 1962
Grace Coddington in black-and-white diagonal weave, flannel beret by Chez Elle, shoes by Charles Jourdan, photo by Georges Garcin, Harper’s Bazaar UK, August 1962
Leave a Reply