Grace Coddington for Vogue -- August, September, October 2012

     Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I love everything about it from the cool change in weather to all my favorite holidays that it leads up to -- you know the usual -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and of course the start of college football and countless other fall festivities and delights. Not to mention the clothes and the oh-so-important September issues begin to appear on newsstands. This year Vogue is celebrating the magazine's legendary 120 year anniversary! To properly celebrate such an important milestone, the magazine churned out a record breaking 916 page issue topping that famous 2007 September Issue (the focus of R.J. Cutler's documentary) of 840 pages. In addition to producing the largest September Issue in the magazine's history, Vogue also released a new book to go along with its120th anniversary called Vogue: The Editor's Eye. The book focuses on the work of eight of the magazine's legendary fashion editors and of course it includes Vogue's creative director and my favorite fashion editorial stylist, Grace Coddington. There was actually an excerpt of the book included in the September 2012 issue of the magazine with Lady Gaga (wearing a custom made Marc Jacobs dress) on the cover, which was supposed to pay homage to the very first issue of Vogue from December 17, 1892. 

     This September Issue is not only a celebratory one, but it also gives us the best example of miss Coddington's great work. Not only did she style Lady Gaga for the cover and cover story, Dream Girl, (and according to Anna Wintour's Editor's Note there were two dresses that were being considered for the cover: one that Grace particularly liked and one that Gaga preferred more, but Anna didn't reveal which dress made the cover! Tease!) this issue also showcases Grace's great imagination and romanticism in her work and justifies time in time again why she is the greatest stylist that has ever lived. The editorial titled Custom of the Country features two of Grace's signature elements -- Natalia Vodianova and Annie Leibovitz: my favorite combination of all time. Along with the August 2012 spread, The Great Escape (photographed by Peter Lindbergh), both spreads have a very dreamy, whimsical, and cinematic feel to it. A lot of the clothes that Vodianova wears in that editorial were custom made by a lot of designers -- from Nina Ricci, Ralph Lauren, Rochas, Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga, to Oscar de la Renta -- just for Vogue! I guess that's one of the many perks of being Grace Coddington and a publication like Vogue; designers don't hesitate to create something that will be exclusively featured in the magazine and those particular editorial shoots always become so memorable and one of my favorites as well. 

     In terms of what's new and the latest fashion for fall, Vogue has launched a new feature titled What to Wear Where in its September and October issues which illustrates Grace's talent of interpreting the Fall 2012 runway fashions to the glossies of the magazine in September's Her Brilliant Career and October's Cover Me. The September feature has the model Karlie Kloss donning a lot of bright and colorful wigs with the season's best tailored looks for the office, peplums, structured leather bags, and those show stopping Prada platform heels. The October story features Kloss again alongside model Daria Strokuos where Grace, via the words of Anna Wintour, "gave practical consideration to how to wear all of the sculpted and volumized coats that are around" paired along with those Celine heels that are deemed to be the new heel shape (spectator wedge with a notch nipped out under the arch as translated by Vogue.) 

     The October cover girl Kiera Knightley was also styled by miss Coddington in Poise and Passion where Kiera, who is going to star as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in theaters this September, wears the haute couture pieces from the July couture runway shows. From the white finale look of Chanel to Raf Simons debut collection for Christian Dior, Kiera looked positively regal. And speaking of couture, in the feature One Enchanted Evening, Dolce and Gabbana presents its first couture collection in a confection of bell shaped skirts on the silk organza dresses and hand painted floral designs. It's considered couture because there is nothing ready-to-wear about these dresses, some even took three months to create! This is a collection that the duo has been dreaming of, with Domenico Dolce saying that "It's not just a dress. It's a dream -- a Dolce dream."

     And speaking of dreams, if there is one thing that I learn each month from Grace's work, it's that you shouldn't stop dreaming. I'm not talking about the kind that happens when you sleep. I'm talking more about a conscious dream and colorful fantasies. I don't know about you, but there is something about this season that never fails to inspire me to dream year after year. Something about the cool autumn air makes everything around seem so romantic and promising (or maybe that's the impending Holiday season.) Nonetheless, savor the pumpkin flavor lattes, break out the wool outwear, and don't forget to dream this fall. 

Love, KB

August 2012
The Great Escape

Tatjana Patitz has never relished the limelight. Now, at 46, the supermodel has found paradise -- 20 acres of quiet California ranch land to share with assorted animals and her son, Jonah. 

Photographed by Peter Lindbergh 

September 2012

Dream Girl

Whether touring the globe with a groundbreaking extravaganza or launching an 

out-of-this-world fragrance, Lady Gaga is meeting the future on her own wildly inventive terms. 

Photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

The Custom of the Country

Escaping the drawing rooms of old New York, Edith Wharton created an artistic arcadia in the Berkshires, where intrigues both literary and romantic -- unfolded in dramatic fashion. 

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz

One Enchanted Evening
Dolce & Gabbana presents its first couture collection in heady, extravagant fashion on the island of Sicily. 
Photographed by Peter Lindbergh

Her Brilliant Career

It's a 24/7 world we live in -- and the modern woman has an office wardrobe as hard as she does. 

Photographed by David Sims

October 2012

Poise and Passion

A dramatic heroine in haute couture and in costume as Anna Karenina, Keira Knightley talks about her upcoming marriage -- and playing the role of a lifetime. 

Photographed by Mario Testino

Cover Me

From work to play, Fall's voluminous coats have got your back. 

Photographed by Craig McDean 

Grace Coddington for Vogue -- April, May, July 2012

"In 1969, a young woman named Pamela Rosalind Grace Coddington joined British Vogue's fashion department. Already well established as a model, Grace Coddington was gifted with an instinct that enabled her to change her look overnight, often ahead of fashion. In time, she would become creative director of the American edition of Vogue and the main producer of the Style Essay. It was she who would make the genre international and would develop its new variations. 

Coddington has been in charge of most of the magazine's Style Essays, which have become regular landmarks in the magazine's year. Coddington is considered the most experienced, knowledgeable, and innovative fashion editor working today. 'She has the eye and the instinct to know which look could inspire,' says Wintour, "and an uncanny ability to take the seed of an idea and turn it into a famous narrative . . . . She always sees fashion in terms of stories, of an amusingly romantic bent . . . . Little wonder all the photographers want to work with her: She inspires them and challenges them like no one else." 

     Ever since I was old enough to appreciate the value and worth of an issue of Vogue I've somehow established a certain custom of how I would devour the pages of a new issue. While waiting in the check-out line to purchase my new issue (because I'm not patient enough to wait for magazine subscriptions to come in the mail and somewhat distrustful of the mailing system because of lost issues in the past that never made it to my mailbox) I usually sneak a quick peek in the back of the magazine to get a glimpse of Grace Coddington's latest editorials, but still manage to contain my excitement and make it back to my desk before going through the magazine from cover to cover. This particular habit goes a little bit like this: 

1. I promptly remove all of those loose subscription cards and use them as bookmarks as I quickly flip through the entire magazine to look at the ads and editorials, while marking specific sections such as the Letter from the Editor, any interesting articles that catches my eye along the way, the cover story, and of course Grace Coddington's Style Essays in the Point of View. 

2. After this initial observance I backtrack to Anna Wintour's editor letter which perfectly summarizes the major themes and certain highlights of the issue. 

3. Then depending on my mood and who's on the cover I would either read the cover story and closely examine the cover spread noting the stylist and the photographer or dive right into Grace's Style Essays taking in the story of the spread and simultaneously making a mental note of all the details in each page (designer of all the pieces, shoes, jewelry, handbag, etc.) 

4. I would continue on to the rest of the editorials in the magazine with more precise attention this time around and then read all of the articles starting with the ones that interested me the most. 

I know it alls sounds a little crazy and a bit too meticulous, especially over a fashion magazine, but what you have to realize is that it's the images in these magazines that ultimately drive trends each season and contribute to what we see in the media, what's in our shopping malls, and finally into our closets. Fashion didn't become a multi-billion dollar business by being passive and idle. It indirectly influences all of us even if we can't afford those red-soled Christian Louboutin pumps or Karl Lagerfeld's latest recreation of a Chanel tweed jacket. 

     Most people will never appreciate the images in a fashion magazine, let alone pick up a copy of a glossy and think about the implications of its contents and how it relates to what's going on in the world like politics, health, beauty, the arts, travel, and food. But to me, a new issue of Vogue is more than just pretty pictures or pictures of unaffordable pieces of clothes and shoes on an impossibly tall, fit, and gorgeous model -- that interpretation is too literal. Aside from forecasting trends, which arguably is its main aim, is the fact that it tells a beautiful fashion narrative along the way. And that's why I love and admire Grace Coddington's work so much. 

     Her work in the pages of Vogue goes beyond showing the readers that shorts are making a huge statement this summer season, as displayed in May 2012's "Short Order" or how designers are making a lot of bold risks in recent collections by experimenting with dramatic volume, shapes, and silhouettes as outlined in July 2012's "The New Normal." Her editorials aim to tell a cohesive fashion story, but it tells it with an additive dose of fantasy, romanticism, and whimsical touch. Take April 2012's "Checking Out" featuring Kate Moss for example. On face value this Style Essay and its accompanying stories informs the reader about the upcoming renovations at the Ritz in Paris and the editors' nostalgic experiences in this famed hotel. But the spread is not just sixteen pages of pictures of an old and historic hotel in France, but rather it's filled with images of Kate Moss clad in the latest couture collections. I mean, what's more appropriate than having Kate Moss dressed in a black Chanel Haute Couture embroidered organza flower coat and pumps in the Imperial Suite where Karl Lagerfeld presented his 1996 couture collection, while simultaneously having the room littered with Chanel boxes in varying sizes??? I can't think of one. Not only do these images portray such a wondrous fantasy, it's almost a piece of art that you want to frame and hang up on the wall. It makes you feel this certain passion and beauty that you can't really put into words, or at least that's how I often feel. It's iconic for a reason. 

     Other times, some of Grace's editorials touches on current events like the new exhibit at the MET called "Impossible Conversations" in May 2012's "Talk to Her" in which the museum exhibition explores the uncanny resemblances between two designers' work, Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada -- despite the fact that both are from two completely different eras (Schiaparelli during the time of Chanel in the 1920s and Miuccia with her current collections such as Prada and Miu Miu in present day.) Sometimes the magazine will even feature an actor, actress, or other artists (not to be confused with the cover story) and integrates that story with one of Grace's famous Style Essays. This particular feature usually pairs such artist with a model to tell the fashion narrative, in which this case May 2012's "Modern Times" has actor Michael Fassbender posing alongside Natalia Vodianova in fall's latest collections. Albeit, May is a summer issue and it is a little too warm and a little too early to show Fall trends (especially those Givenchy boots, but still.. *swoon), but this is the fashion industry we're talking about. In fashion, it's always about what's next and it's constantly moving forward -- I mean the Spring/Summer shows are in the fall (September Fashion Week) and the Fall/Winter shows are showcased so close to spring (February Fashion Week) for chrissakes.

     However these images make you feel and whatever your philosophy is on the subject of fashion and trends, if you have learned anything new at all or even felt a little something while getting lost in one of Grace Coddington's famous editorials and features, I personally think, that that speaks volumes as to the impact of this iconic magazine and perhaps Grace. It can be easily argued that all of this is very melodramatic. But I'd much rather be dramatic and passionate about something that's meaning to me than not. Keyword: me. 

Love, KB

April 2012: Checking Out

Fashionable guests recall the glory and glamour of the storied Ritz Paris, which, before closing its doors for renovation, hosts Kate Moss in haute couture one last time. 

Photographed by Tim Walker

May 2012: Modern Times

The utilitarian city wardrobe gets an artistic reimagining (and a dash of 1920s utopia) on model Natalia Vodianova and actor Michael Fassbender. 

Photographed by Craig McDean

May 2012: Talk to Her

The Costume Institute's spring blockbuster exhibition, "Impossible Conversations," explores the striking parallels between Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. 

Photographed by Steven Meisel

May 2012: Short Order

With mercury rising, so too hemlines, as shorts are fast becoming a city wardrobe staple. 

Photographed by Steven Meisel

July 2012: The New Normal

Sarah Mower makes sense of fall's outsize shapes, outrageous volumes, and over-the-top attitude. 

Photographed by David Sims