Grace Coddington’s escape from Vogue could be the beginning of the end of the old guard that has been so loyal to Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, 66.
Coddington, 74, Vogue’s creative director for nearly 30 years, stepped down Wednesday to pursue outside interests.
The star of the 2009 documentary about Vogue, “The September Issue,” is developing a perfume with Commes des Garçons, an animated film based on her “Catwalk Cats” illustrations and a movie version of her 2012 memoir “Grace.”
“She was fed up working full time for Vogue,” one fashionista told me. “She wants to do other things.”
Coddington — now Vogue’s creative director-at-large — supposedly will style a few shoots each year.
But now she is repped by the Great Bowery agency coalition and can work for designers, styling fashion shows and commercial campaigns.
The transition is seen as a face-saving move. “André Leon Talley [former editor-at-large] was eased out the same way,” said one source.
Talley, 66 and once Wintour’s right-hand man, left in 2013.
The fashion world is wondering when Anna is going to do the same. “She’s had that job too long, and it shows in the magazine’s pages,” one fashion insider told me.
Besides editing Vogue, Wintour is the artistic director for Condé Nast, and she is busy bundling donations for Democratic candidates.