Grace: A Memoir
Coddington, creative director of the American Vogue magazine, has much to impart (which she has done before in Grace: 30 Years of Fashion at Vogue, 2002, and The Catwalk Cats, 2008). Fashionistas, rejoice, because not only does she chronicle the life and times of a former model turned editor; she also discusses those whose names appear in any celebrity column—photographers such as Annie Leibovitz and Bruce Weber, models like Naomi Campbell, and the Calvin Klein and French couture maîtres. What saves this from becoming a download of the activities of the rich and famous is, first, her amazing candor. We learn, for instance, that marriages don’t agree with her, that her sister Rosemary died of a combination OD–hospital malfeasance issue, and that editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is not as portrayed in The Devil Wears Prada. And, second, her charming and lively pen-and-ink illustrations grace every chapter—and almost every page. Just what you would ask for from a revered behind-the-scenes magazine editor is what you get here. --Barbara Jacobs--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.