Love What You Do
I’m really not ashamed to say that I’ve watched The Devil Wears Prada many many many times.
[Well, we'll see how ashamed I am after people make fun of me for writing that last sentence.]
A few weeks ago, Niki and I watched “The September Issue” (aka the real Devil Wears Prada) – a documentary about how Vogue puts together its most important issue of the year, the aforementioned September issue. The documentary follows two key characters. Obviously, Anna Wintour is the main focus as her reputation precedes her and she has been the visionary for the magazine for the lsat few decades. But if Wintour has been the brains behind Vogue, then Grace Coddington, the other main focus of the documentary, is the heart.
Coddington is a former model who, after a car accident, started working on the editorial side of the magazine. She is currently the creative director of the magazine and regarded as one of the best photo stylists in the world.
Coddington ends up stealing the scenes in The September Issue. Where Wintour is cold and calculating, Coddington is human and exuberant. Her passion shines through at every moment. And her vision shines through in pictures like this:
But, take a look at this clip from Coddington in the movie. Everyone should feel as passionate about their job and work as she does here. Here’s the context behind the shot. Coddington has just spent an inordinate amount of time putting together the above picture and has just found out that Wintour doesn’t want it included in the magazine. Now, everyone has disagreements with their boss and is frustrated when they don’t get their way. But the difference here is that it doesn’t seem to be about ego for Coddington. You can tell that, for her, the injustice she feels is that the beauty of this work is not going to see the light of day. And it affects her. I think it’s incredibly inspiring:
ARGH. I can’t embed the clip on the site, but you can go watch it directly on YouTube by clicking here.
It’s worth it.
This is me, digitally.