Graceful love

On Saturday night I watched The September Issue at the Curzon Mayfair, my favourite London cinema. I was absolutely riveted by the wonderful Grace Coddington and her power of imagination. Her skills are definitely those of a great creator who has the ability to transform anything into a story of undoubted brilliance. This documentary film, while it doesn’t exactly do a good job in elucidating the somewhat tiresomely scary and inscrutable Anna Wintour, certainly served to introduce new fashion fans to the work of the loveable and funny Coddington. Perhaps momentarily forgotten, she is now enjoying something of a renaissance, her reputation and popularity shooting sky high. Her insatiable hunger for remarkable visual fashion pleasures is what drives her. She approaches fashion like an emotionally involved artist, deliberately indulging the senses. The film is a tribute to her strength of character in a tightly controlled magazine world filled with barriers and disparities. Essentially, Grace Coddington is irresistibly charming, vivid, funny, colloquial and tough. She’s inspiring and engages vigorously with her stylistic choices. She dominates the film and has the viewer enthusiastically on her side every step of the way. There is no doubt that Anna Wintour is a business genius with a clear vision of what she wants to achieve but I spent the entire film trying to detect emotion behind the cold glare, speculating and wondering whether there was another person behind the mask. She concedes that her ambition is the result of the influence exercised by her father on her and she admits that she behaves and thinks much as he did, in keeping with English Victorian values. I secretly would like to see her completely and hopelessly drunk and I want to know what she does to kick back! Do you think she might cooperate?
I went to Dover Street Market on Saturday afternoon and made the mistake of trying on several of the Charles Anastase winter coats. I wonder how long I will be able to resist. They’re beyond cute and earned me kisses from handsome boys!

All pictures courtesy of Steven Meisel, Vogue US August 2008