A celebration of the work of legendary fashion stylist Grace Coddington during her first 30 years at Vogue UK and US.

First published in 2002, the reissue of this 408-page monograph of work by the legendary fashion stylist Grace Coddington is also a showcase for some of the greatest photographs ever published in British and American Vogue.

It includes forewords by American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and designer Karl Lagerfeld as well as personal anecdotes and insider stories of working with photographers Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Bruce Weber, Steven Meisel and Mario Testino and fashion-world personalities such as Naomi Campbell, Jerry Hall, Linda Evangelista and Manolo Blahnik.

About the author:

Grace Coddington's undisputed talent and impassioned commitment to her work as creative director of Vogue have made her an international style icon. The September Issue, the acclaimed 2009 documentary, focused on Grace's working relationship with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. The daughter of a hotelier in Wales, Grace was a teenager when she won a Vogue modelling competition and moved to London to become one of the top models on the city's swinging 1960s fashion scene. In 1968, Grace decided she wanted to work behind the camera and started work as a junior editor at British Vogue. She soon established herself as a master stylist and creative director. "I hate fashion trends so in my head I write a script to make it less fashion", has always been her credo, storytelling with clothing that is the quintessence of Grace Coddington's work.

The second and final volume of the collected best work of Creative Director at Large of American Vogue and international fashion icon Grace Coddington

This handsome slipcased edition showcases work of the last fifteen years by legendary Vogue editor Grace Coddington. The book celebrates seventeen of the master photographers with whom Coddington has collaborated - including Steven Meisel, Annie Leibovitz, Craig McDean, David Sims, Mario Testino, and Marcus Piggot and Mert Alas - in a sumptuous compilation of Coddington's most beloved fashion stories.

About the author:

Grace Coddington's extraordinary talent and fierce dedication to her work have made her a global icon. Known through much of her career only to the fashion set, the 2009 documentary film, 'The September Issue' turned the celebrity-adverse Coddington into an international star. In 2016, after nearly thirty years as creative director of Vogue US, Coddington embarked on her new role as the magazine's creative director-at-large.

In more than 2,000 issues, British Vogue magazine has acted as a cultural barometer, putting fashion in the context of the larger world in which we live – how we dress, how we entertain, what we eat, listen to, watch, who leads us, excites us and inspires us.

The century’s most talented photographers, illustrators and artists have contributed to it. In Lee Miller it had, unexpectedly, its own war photographer; in Norman Parkinson, Cecil Beaton, David Bailey, Snowdon and Mario Testino the greatest portrait and fashion photographers of their generation; and in Beaton and Irving Penn two giants of twentieth-century photography.

From 1892, American Vogue chronicled the life of beautiful people – their clothes, parties, houses and habits – and the magazine was exported for intrigued British readers. In 1916, when the First World War made transatlantic shipments impossible, its proprietor, Condé Nast, authorised a British edition. It was an immediate success, and over the following ten decades of uninterrupted publication continued to mirror its times – the austerity and optimism that followed two world wars, the ‘Swinging London’ scene of the sixties, the radical seventies, the image-conscious eighties – and in its second century remains at the cutting edge of photography and design.

Decade by decade, Vogue 100: A Century of Style celebrates the greatest moments in fashion, beauty and portrait photography. Illustrated throughout with well - known images, as well as the less familiar and recently rediscovered, the book focuses on the faces that shaped the cultural landscape: from Matisse to Bacon, Freud and Hirst, from Dietrich to Paltrow, from Fred Astaire to David Beckham, from Lady Diana Cooper to Lady Diana Spencer.
It features the fashion designers who defined the century – Dior, Galliano, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, McQueen – and explores more broadly the changing form of the twentieth-century woman.

Fashion’s leading shoemaker, Manolo Blahnik is one of the handful of designers whose name is synonymous with their product. His success has lasted from setting up as a shoe designer in a Chelsea boutique in the 1970s to the present day, with American Vogue’s Anna Wintour declaring ‘The truth is, I wear no other shoes except his’.

Blahnik has collaborated with many leading fashion designers – from Ossie Clark at the start of his career and John Galliano at Dior at its height – but Blahnik’s greatest achievement is to have made footwear, previously subservient to the overall concept of a look, the most important of all accessories. His many covers and features in the pages of Vogue reveal that wearing a pair of ‘Manolos’ is to be utterly transformed; in Blahnik’s dreamy, handmade creations, a woman can reinvent her personality. She is a Lolita in his Mary-Janes and a red carpet diva in his satin mules. Or as Madonna once put it, with characteristic bluntness: ‘His shoes are wonderful, and they last longer than sex.’

Hailed as 'the most influential female designer of the twentieth century', Coco Chanel pioneered classic easy-to-wear fashion for the modern woman.

She arrived on the fashion scene when feathers, lace and ostentatious beads were favourites, and proceeded to re-invent couture using new materials, like jersey, for outfits that were suitable for everyday wear yet still elegant. With original illustrations and images from celebrated photographers, such as Cecil Beaton, Bronwyn Cosgrave traces the story of Coco Chanel's iconic designs and glamorous, racy life.

In 1921 Coco opened her Chanel boutique in Paris - still a destination store today - and launched her first perfume, Chanel No.5. Perhaps her most important contribution to the fashion world was the simple, much-imitated 'little black dress' which made its debut in 1926.

Other landmark creations include the Chanel suit and the quilted handbag. A testament to her lasting influence, these legendary designs remain as popular today as when they first appeared.

Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

A tortured genius and one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century, Yves Saint Laurent was responsible for revolutionising the way women dressed and viewed themselves.

During a wildly creative career stretching from 1958 to2002 Saint Laurent established a reputation for accessible, flawlessly cut clothes. He became an overnight sensation in 1958, aged 21 when he showed his 'Trapeze' collection, his first for the House of Christian Dior, following the master's death. Four years later, Saint Laurent opened his own couture house and within a few seasons was hailed by Vogue's Diana Vreeland as 'the pied piper of fashion'.

Viewed as a master colourist and admired for his choice of sultry fabrics, his great gift was creating lasting styles - described by Vogue as 'stockpiles of essentials in times of famine' - that flattered all shapes and sizes. As well as designing wardrobe classics like the 'Le Smoking' tuxedo for women, the Safari jacket, the trench and the pea coat, and introducing trousers into haute couture, he also dressed international style icons such as Catherine Deneuve, Marella Agnelli and Lauren Bacall. With his nose for the zeitgeist, Saint Laurent recognized the global power of street fashion and launched Rive Gauche, his ready-to-wear boutique line in 1966.

Christened 'The Saint' by Vogue, every element of his fashion empire, which included exhilarating couture collections, exquisite accessories and sought-after perfumes, was captured by Vogue's writers and leading photographers like Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Norman Parkinson.

'Valentissimo! Viva Valentino!' exclaimed Vogue, lauding the achievements of the first Italian dress designer to take on the Paris fashion world and achieve haute couture status.

Drawing on Vogue's archive of imagery and text, as well as the author's exclusive interview with the designer, this book analyses Valentino's exceptional fusion of Latinate sensuality and Parisian precision. It shows how his inventive colour sense and use of opulent fabrics derived from Italian classical painting, and how his trust in and promotion of Italy's craftsmen and women is evident in his use of featherweight materials, handmade embroidery, beading and pleating.

Valentino's early love of costumes worn by stars of the Italian and American film industry influenced his designs, and he attracted a superstar clientele, including Hollywood celebrities from Elizabeth Taylor to Gwyneth Paltrow, European royalty, and society figures such as Jaqueline Kennedy - who wore him in mourning, and in remarriage, at her wedding to Aristotle Onassis.

Valentino is unique: the exquisite quality of his dressmaking and the femininity, glamour and allure of his seasonal collections are matchless; exceptionally in his field, he is known by his first name only; and he holds a record as the founder of a house who remained in creative control of it for 45 years.

A provocateur, radical thinker and instigator of the most important sartorial statements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Vivienne Westwood is a fearless nonconformist with a relentless passion for tradition.

From the mini crini, the liberty corset and the rocking-horse shoe to the stunning, sumptuous wedding dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City and Dita Von Teese's infamous purple wedding dress, Westwood has unleashed her imagination on the world for almost 40 years.

Her Pirate and Edwardian looks were worldwide fashion trends, and her revolutionary designs include the co-creation of the punk style, the introduction of street style into high fashion, the reworking of the crinoline, the restyling of Harris tweed and the reintroduction of platforms and the hourglass figure.

She has been described by Anna Wintour as 'an unbelievable influence' and by Alexander McQueen as 'the Coco Chanel of our day'.

Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

Ralph Lauren's designs vividly embody the American Dream and he has risen to become his country's foremost fashion designer.

His visionary ability has created a multi-billion-dollar brand, still very successful almost 50 years on. His genius lies in his innate skill for interpreting key cultural elements of Americana - whether Folk Art, or the world of polo-playing Hamptons' socialites, or Navajo motifs - and encapsulating them in appealing garments. Also a natural fit with Hollywood, he designed costumes for film classics such as The Great Gatsby and Annie Hall.

Celebrated in Vogue by leading photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber and Mario Testino, Lauren's clothes have appeared on countless covers, on everyone from Cher to a young Gwyneth Paltrow. From his ubiquitous Polo Ralph Lauren shirts with their much-imitated equestrian logo to his American country-club take on upper-class Englishness, his skill in making aspiration accessible is second to none.

Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

The handsome, aristocratic Hubert de Givenchy blended the hallowed traditions of haute couture with a modern sensibility.

For 40 years he focused always on purity of line, but combined an artist's eye with a keen entrepreneurial mind. His innovative 1952 debut collection made its mark by presenting separates, then a little-known approach to fashion.
Givenchy created the most unrepentantly glamorous of evening dresses, developed the influential 'chemise' dress without a waistline, and fielded debonair little daytime suits which have never gone out of fashion. He is also credited with pioneering the princess silhouette, and his name became forever linked with the Sabrina neckline after dressing Hepburn in the eponymous film.

Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

Armani's style is elegance and sensual simplicity incarnate.

'Few names in fashion conjure so distinctive a look,' said Vogue. For Armani, design has always been about an easy, timeless grace, not constantly changing trends; clothes meant to compliment the body, not merely cover it. With his careful removal of extraneous internal structure, emphasis on the human form and the use of soft textiles and a muted colour palette, Armani changed the face of fashion from haute couture to the high street. He revolutionised the way both men and women looked and dressed, taking away formality and fuss as surely as he ripped out linings and interlinings.

It's difficult to overstate just how different the fashion landscape was before Giorgio Armani. With his principles of style, simplicity and practicality, Armani deconstructed the fashion world. From inauspicious beginnings as a department store window-dresser, he funded his first company by selling his car. 40 years on, he oversees a multi-billion dollar empire with over 250 stores in 33 countries worldwide. One of the first designers to truly utilise the appeal of Hollywood, his seminal wardrobe for Richard Gere in the 1980 film American Gigolo helped cement his as the look of the late 20th century. His frequent collaborations with luminaries such as Martin Scorsese, Leonardo Di Caprio, Cate Blanchett and Lady Gaga have all contributed to making the shy, reserved but dedicated Armani the first superstar designer of the modern age.

Vogue on: Giorgio Armani  charts the rise of a small town boy to a fashion monolith.

A completely fresh look at the Italian fashion designer, Gianni Versace

The latest in the series of fashion books from British Vogue, which tell the fascinating stories of iconic designers accompanied by world-class photographs and illustrations from the British Vogue archive.

Gianni Versace created a fashion house that, as British Vogue declared, defined late twentieth-century glamour, invented the supermodel and sanctioned in the public consciousness a supremely self-assured feminine sexuality.' His debut line in 1978 was instantly successful; in the Eighties, his extravagant designs and his vision of powerful women defined the era, and culminated in the Nineties with the supermodel phenomenon - his designs worn by those glamazons who featured on every Vogue cover.

Vogue on Gianni Versace explores how his childhood spent in his mother's dressmaker's shops, his Italian hometown of Reggio Calabria, and his family, particularly his younger sister, Donatella, influenced not only the designer he became - the insistent sensuality, vivid colours, classical motifs, clashing prints and daring cuts - but also the way he constructed his business: family first.

The book reveals how the more brazen elements of his design - the jewelled embroidery, the bondage straps, the safety-pin gowns - were predicated on supremely skilled tailoring, deft use of materials and innovative techniques. Alongside are Vogue's eye-witness accounts of the Versace lifestyle - the palazzos and parties, the art, the celebrity friends. Vogue on Gianni Versace is a celebration of a designer and a house that, in only 19 years, came to dominate the catwalk and the red carpet.

"I like looking at things from a different angle and questioning what is expected."
– Jean Paul Gaultier

This book tracks the stellar career of maverick designer Jean Paul Gaultier from his first show in Paris in 1976, when he challenged the current ideals of beauty and promoted a style of fashion which embraced ethnic diversity and models of all shapes and sizes.

Seen as an enfant terrible when he first burst on to the fashion scene, his titillating, provocative designs embrace corset dresses, conical bustiers, biker jackets paired with ballet tutus and skirts for men, along with classic fashion staples such as beautifully cut smoking jackets and trench coats.

By the turn of this century he had put Madonna in corsets for her Blonde Ambition tour, dressed celebrities for the red carpet and moved seamlessly between mainstream popular culture (co-hosting the outré British TV show Eurotrash and designing award-winning film costumes for Luc Besson and Pedro Almodovar) while also launching his own seriously successful haute couture label – an addition to a burgeoning empire of ready-to-wear, perfume and kidswear.

With stunning images captured in the pages of Vogue by photographers like Mario Testino and Lord Snowdon, Vogue on Jean Paul Gaultier shows how his avant-garde fashion creations and cutting-edge designs revealed Gaultier’s unerring instinct for how women want to dress.

Vogue on Designers is a new series of fashion books from British Vogue which tell the fascinating stories of iconic designers accompanied by world-class photographs and illustrations from the Vogue archive.

Vogue called Elsa Schiaparelli a genius madder and more original than her contemporaries, championing and illustrating her designs from the first picture of the revolutionary Bow Knot sweater in 1927 through to the Surrealist Tear Dress and Shoe Hat of the late 1930s.

A true original, collaborating with artists such as Salvador Dali and Man Ray, she made trompe-l'oeil images, dresses with skeletal forms, perfume bottles in the shape of Mae West's torso, and pioneered the use of man-made fabrics. Vogue on Elsa Schiaparelli presents the enduring legacy of this daring and visionary designer.

British Vogue has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make British Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

In 1936, Cristobal Balenciaga opened a fashion house in Paris, after fleeing the Spanish civil war; within a couple of seasons he had raised fashion to the level of art.

Christian Dior called Balenciaga 'the master of us all', while Coco Chanel claimed that he alone was 'a couturier in the truest sense of the word ...the others are simply fashion designers'. In the Fifties he revolutionised women's silhouette, experimenting with the semi-fitted shape, the sack dress, the cocoon and the babydoll. His innovative designs were famously easy to wear, with one diplomat's wife quipping that she could play golf in her Balenciaga gown. In the Sixties, despite the waning power of couture, he created some of his most imaginative clothes, culminating in the bold, fluid lines of his last two collections. Always something of an enigma, he preferred to let his clothes speak for themselves.

Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.