Renowned creative director Grace Coddington recently modeled Merit’s newest lipstick shade, Ginger, along with its orange-red hue, Vermillion, photographed by seminal fashion photographer Craig ...

Random House. 333 pp. $35 Vogue creative director Grace Coddington offers a fresh and down-to-Earth perspective on a world known for its glamour and celebrity: the fashion industry.

Coddington has defied conventional notions of hair beauty for more than 50 years—first, as a model, and later as one of the most influential (and recognizable) fashion editors in the world.

Coddington herself was a model in 1960s London. She was raised in Anglesey, a remote Welsh island, where her parents ran a hotel. At 18, she left home for London, where she won a Vogue model contest.

Coddington, who sat in the show audience, elected to not bring her feline inspiration to the show, because: “They’re not very sociable. They don’t really like other cats,” she said.