Grace and I: Two Anglesey Girls Who Loved Fashion

I don't remember when it was that I became familiar with Grace Coddington and her work but I do remember thinking it was magical.

If you've ever seen her editorial spreads, you know that they transport you somewhere else. They are filled with mysticism and the sort of ethereal qualities you just don't see in fashion anymore. To me, the only seemingly accurate description in my perception is if you picked the characters out of a darker fairytale and dropped them in the Palace of Versailles. There's a regal overtone to everything she does with a darker undertone. Her work is scintillating and timeless.

As I became a fan of Grace, I decided to pick up her eponymously named memoir and learn more about this woman and how she came to be. To my surprise and utter delight, Grace is from Anglesey. My island. My home.

Now, you may be thinking why is this a big deal. For me, it's everything I hoped for when I was a child. Like Grace, I struggled to visualize my life when I lived on Anglesey. There were no role models and very few people who were Welsh, or even Welsh and English like me, who had made waves globally. I found myself scrambling to find anyone I could connect to. For the longest time my favorite actress was Catherine Zeta Jones... because she was Welsh. My favorite member of the band Steps was Lisa Scott-Lee... because she was Welsh. I felt this incessant need to connect with someone that had a shared experience to me.

Fast forward a few years and I start to get into fashion. I remember from a very early age enjoying everything about fashion. I, like any young girl, enjoyed getting into my mum's clothing and traipsing around the garden in five-inch heels. Likewise, I did the same at my Nana's house. I played with Barbie's way longer than was "socially acceptable" because I liked styling them so much and, as soon as I aged past Barbie's, I would log into Stardoll every day so I could continue my styling. Around this same time, I began to really love magazines. I remember almost every day, after my mum or dad picked me up from the train station after school, I would peruse the magazine section. I would inevitably pick up Shout magazine or something age-appropriate, but I dreamed of the day when I would be able to transition to Marie Claire or Vogue or Glamour... or even Cosmopolitan. When that day came, I would lose myself in the magazines. I loved the glamour and the variety of fashion. They were an escape and a way of imagining myself in a life that was far from Anglesey.

I loved growing up on Anglesey, but I always wanted something more. Fashion magazines were a way for me to see more. I kept them for months and cut out pictures for inspiration. It really was a way for me to envision a different life. It was only when reading Grace's memoir that I learned she too had a similar experience. To have known that when I was growing up just ten minutes away from her would have been incredible. She was that role model I was seeking.

Interestingly, Grace grew up in the Treaddur Bay Hotel, which had belonged to her uncle. I am not sure if her family still owned it in the 1990s, but I spent many a birthday in that exact spot. Either attached or adjacent to the hotel was a kid's party spot called Captain Beachies. For many years I had my childhood birthday parties there and it struck me how similar our experiences were. Unfortunately for me, I don't work for Vogue, but it is reassuring that a girl from the same island as me, just down the road from me, can work hard and end up a real changemaker in the industry.

(Grace and I -- Anglesey girls)

Grace didn't always intend to be a pioneer in editorial. She actually got her start as a model when she won the Young Model section at the age of 18 and went to model for Vogue. She was pretty successful and cultivated a great network of friends in the industry such as David Bailey. Unfortunately, Grace was in a car accident at age 26 and required plastic surgery to repair facial damage she had incurred. This effectively ended her modeling career and allowed her to transition into editorial with her start as a Junior Editor at British Vogue. She then worked as a Photography Editor before moving to Calvin Klein. When Anna Wintour, a former colleague of hers at British Vogue, became Editor-in-Chief of Vogue in 1988, Grace moved over at Anna's behest and worked as Creative Director.

Thus began the incredible work of Grace Coddington. Work that has provided me with inspiration on countless occasions and reminded me that it isn't where you're from but where yore going that truly matters.

As I sit here in a very difficult and unstable part of my life, I am reminded of Grace after her accident. How she must have felt. And yet, she got back up and came back stronger. She really does live up to her name.

So, thank you Grace. Thank you for being the role model that I needed as a young girl. I may have found you as an adult, but it doesn't diminish the impact. Thank you for your work and for inspiring a generation of would-be fashion editors, designers, and photographers into believing in the fairytale of fashion again. And thank you for the reminder that Anglesey girls can make waves. We may not have grown up in the center of fashion, or even the outer edge of fashion, but there is still room for us.