It seems, yet again, that the fashion industry is going through some drastic changes. This morning, news broke that Grace Coddington, the woman whose held the title of Creative Director of American Vogue for nearly 30 years, is stepping down from the role effective immediately.
“After more than 25 years at American Vogue, Grace Coddington will assume the role of creative director at large and take on additional projects outside the magazine,” a spokesperson for American Vogue confirmed to a media outlet. “She will work on several Vogue fashion shoots throughout the year.”
Unlike many rumors circulating for Dior or Alexander McQueen, there are no tentative plans to fill the role of creative director at this moment.
Under the management of a new agency, Coddington will be permitted to work on external projects outside of just the magazine.
“I’m not running away from Vogue, because it has opened so many doors. But it will be nice to collaborate [with other brands] and nice to go out [and] give talks to people. It’s just another approach. I’m certainly not going into retirement. I don’t want to sit around.” Coddington told reporters at Business of Fashion.
While Coddington won many of our hearts initially in the 2009 documentary The September Issue, we can not wait to see what new projects she will take on and to see more sides to her artistic ability.
This fall, Phaidon will release a follow up to her memoir in 2002’s Grace: Thirty Years of Fashion at Vogue, which will document Coddington’s work from the past 15 years.