Grace Coddington’s fashion photographs can be read as stories, not only as images of clothes. That idea came through at a V&A conversation with Anna Wintour celebrating Coddington’s new book, Grace Now, as British Vogue reported.
For anyone who enjoys fashion imagery without treating it as a shopping list, the talk offered a simple way to look: follow the scene, characters or mood. The book is the third volume of Coddington’s career-spanning fashion portfolios; the article says it is published by Phaidon on 22 October for £79.95. The event also revisited the long working relationship that helped bring some of those elaborate pictures to life.
A fashion shoot as a story
Wintour, who took Coddington to US Vogue when she became its editor-in-chief in 1988, described the nature of Coddington’s shoots this way: “It’s a script. It’s a film. It’s a play. It’s a daydream. Perhaps it’s a short novel.” She added that they were usually romantic and witty, and said the work was less about following culture than creating it.
The talk featured enlarged photographs by Steven Klein, Annie Leibovitz, David Bailey and Norman Parkinson, styled by Coddington. One example discussed was Leibovitz’s 2003 portfolio, in which designers appeared as characters in Alice in Wonderland. The shoot also cemented Coddington’s friendship with then-rising designer Nicolas Ghesquière, according to the article.
Wintour’s description gives viewers a practical starting point: look for what a photograph is staging or imagining, as well as what its subjects are wearing. You can consider the story without wanting to reproduce the styling.
“It’s never simply a shoot with Grace,” Wintour said.
Memorable work can divide opinion
The conversation was not only a celebration. Wintour recalled disliking Steven Meisel’s 1992 Grunge & Glory editorial at the time. The article reports that many Vogue readers cancelled their subscriptions in response. That history is a reminder that a fashion image can provoke sharply different reactions; admiration is not a requirement for looking closely.
Coddington also credited Wintour’s trust with making her extravagant stories possible. “You allowed me to do these incredibly extravagant pictures, stories, which if I was just an independent on my own, I would never have been able to get together,” she said. “But you somehow trusted me. What I love is that we’re still friends.”
For a first step, choose one of the works mentioned in the conversation—such as the Alice in Wonderland portfolio—and notice what the setting or premise adds to the clothes. Which fashion images stay with you because of their story, whether or not you would wear what’s in them?
Source image: British Vogue.