Grace Coddington

Pamela Rosalind Grace Coddington (born 20 April 1941) is a Welsh former model and former creative director at-large of American Vogue magazine. Coddington 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." Early life Coddington was born on the island of Anglesey in Wales, United Kingdom, to hotelier parents. Her interest in fashion began in her teens, when she would anxiously await the arrival of a current issue of Vogue magazine, which was at least three months outdated because she needed to order it on "rush-copy". Coddington lived many miles away from any designer shops, so Vogue was her only connection to the fashion world. She says that she loves "the whole sort of chic thing ("Italianate culture") [about Vogue] that was so entirely out of context compared to the lifestyle that [she] led." As a teen, she was pale-skinned, convent-educated and never went anywhere on her holidays, so she just looked at Vogue. Career Modeling In 1959 at the age of 18, there was a Vogue model competition, and someone submitted her pictures. She ended up winning the Young Model section and was featured in the October issue in a photograph by Norman Parkinson. She then began her modelling career for Vogue.