Grace Coddington looks beyond Vogue to her own future

Grace Coddington has long been a global influence on fashion but her star was revealed to mere mortals when she stole the show in ‘The September Issue’. At 74, she’s decided it’s time to leave Vogue, writes Suzanne Harrington

One of fashion’s longest partnerships is coming to an end – Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour, the good cop / bad cop double act at American Vogue, are breaking up. Coddington, creative director at the magazine since 1988 — she started the same day as editor Anna Wintour — is leaving. Not fully leaving — she will keep an office and assistant at the magazine — but her job title is changing to creative director at large, which means she can engage in projects beyond Vogue.

Coddington is 74, and has been styling Vogue shoots for almost three decades. While she will still oversee several shoots a year, she is now free to launch a perfume with her favourite Japanese designers, Comme des Garcons. Also, her 2012 memoir Grace is being made into a film. There is even talk of her series of illustrations, Catwalk Cats — she is a talented artist and devoted cat-freak — being made into an animated film.