She says, for example: “Just because I am recognised does not mean I am important.” When the subject of her memoir (just nominated for an audio book award for best narration by the author) comes up, she says: “I’m sure it won’t win I was so bad. It’s almost become more important than the thing itself but I didn’t ask about it, because I am stupid.”Īlong with speaking her mind, Coddington also spends a lot of time disparaging herself. I am sure when actors have to do a film, the first thing they ask is about what they will have to do for publicity. But I didn’t realise how much work it would be. So I thought, ‘Well, maybe instead of clothes it should be about no clothes, because that is how every fashion picture starts really, that’s the base.’ That’s how I rationalised it. “Then the Paddle8 people wanted portraits but I am renowned for being annoying and always wanting the feet to show in my pictures.
To which Coddington says: “I wanted to do fashion photographs but apparently they don’t sell. I ask, for example, about the fact that the auction will take as its theme “nudes” and point out the irony in someone who has made a career out of putting clothes on – both on her own body, as a model from the ages of 18 to 26 (having won a Vogue model competition), and on other people’s bodies as a stylist at British Vogue from 1968-86, then at Calvin Klein as design director for a year in 1987, and then at American Vogue from 1988 to today – choosing to curate a selling show focused on taking clothes off. In the world of street style and cosmetic surgery, she is notable for opting out, which has had the effect of making her even more noticeable.
Her cloud of bright red hair is pulled up on one side in a barrette, two diamond studs are in her ears, and some dark red lipstick has partly migrated to her teeth otherwise, her face seems bare. Or even a good day.”Ĭoddington is in her usual uniform of navy Céline crewneck sweater, black trousers, and bright orange Céline Vans shoes for as long as I have been going to the shows and seeing her across the runway, this, with a few variations and different brands – a white shirt here, a black dress there – is what she has worn. After sliding into the booth, she says with a laugh: “People come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I love you!’ It’s kind of wonderful it really cheers you up if you are having a bad day. Now Coddington gets recognised at least once a day when she is on the way to the subway from her home in Chelsea, where she lives with her partner, hairstylist Didier Malige and their two cats, to her office on Times Square. It is probably the nicest, most sheltered spot in the restaurant.Ĭoddington, 73, became an accidental celebrity in 2009 thanks to RJ Cutler’s film The September Issue, which was nominally about the making of the September 2007 edition of American Vogue but turned out to be a portrait of the complicated alliance between the analytic and creative sides of the business, as embodied respectively by editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Coddington. “This is her table,” he says confidingly.
“Oh, come with me,” he says with great concern, and leads me to a round corner booth.
0 kommentar(er)
