Aug 11, 2011 12:00AM

Grace Coddington by Willie Christie

Even in black and white there's no mistaking that hair.

When your ex-partner announces that he's going to release intimate photographs taken of you during your marriage, the predominant reaction is something along the lines of "F***, NAKED SKYPE PHOTOS!" But then it's not often that divorcees hold their former partners in such high esteem as Willie Christie does his ex-wife, Grace Coddington.

Christie is hosting a by-appointment-only gallery show of vintage photographs taken long before Grace met Anna. Shot over 35 years ago they have been kept in storage since the beginning of his own illustrious career, and are only now being made available to the select public. He's not exactly an unknown in the photography world, with other famous faces appearing in the September exhibit (no, that's not it's official name but wouldn't it be fitting?) belonging to Lynn Kohlman, Marie Helvin, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall.

Grace Coddington is most easily recognizable in colour photographs thanks to a mane that looks - to borrow an expression from True Blood's Terry Bellefleur - like a sunset after a bomb went off. But even in black and white she's still equally captivating.

"For me she was photographic heaven. She was so brilliant as a model because she had an appreciation and an understanding of art in all its forms; mimicry, gentleness, and serenity. She understood everything that the clothes were trying to do. She became the image. She had then and still has, an absolute passion for all that she does. Photographically - and personally - Grace was everything I was looking for. And she was willing. Lucky me!"

Yuh. Here are some more Grace Coddington modelling images we sourced from around the Internets:

Words: Hannah Ongley

www.williechristie.com

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