Fashion has transformative power; it can move people in more ways than one. In December 2003, for example, Vogue took its readers on a journey down the rabbit hole with “Alice in Wonderland,” a stunning editorial which has been called the greatest of all time. In this episode of In Vogue: The 2000s, stylist Grace Coddington, photographer Annie Leibovitz, and model Natalia Vodianova, aka Vogue’s Alice, share the backstory of this history-making sitting.
Listen to the sixth episode of the In Vogue: The 2000s podcast now.
“It was one of those things where everything just went... Well, it went wrong, but it went right, you know?” says Coddington with a laugh. Yes, there were challenges to overcome—a dollhouse and a dress had to be rebuilt—but this shoot still seems touched by magic.
For decades, the magazine’s December issues have been celebratory and escapist. Mary Poppins was heading to Broadway around the time this one was being planned, and that beloved children’s tale was proposed first. “I really can’t stand Mary Poppins,” admits Coddington, “so I kept saying, ‘we have to think of something else because she doesn’t turn me on at all, and besides, she only ever wears black dresses and I know you’re not going to like that.’ ” The “you’re” in that remark is Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor in chief who famously doesn’t wear black. And so the nanny was put aside in favor of the curious child Alice and the cast of characters that inhabit the dream world she discovers. It was Wintour’s idea to have designers inhabit those roles, and the casting was inspired.
“The preparation behind the pictures is tremendous,” says Olivier Theyskens (who played Lewis Carroll), of any Leibovitz production. As with any adventure, there were teapot tempests to get through, as when Tom Ford, who had arrived impeccably dressed to play the White Rabbit, was asked by Leibovitz if he could stand on his head. Ford, though worried about showing too much sock, was amendable and a makeshift incline was created.
John Galliano really got into his role as the King of Hearts, recalls Coddington. “He kept screaming at everybody, ‘Off with your head! Off with your head!’ While some designers had a role they wanted, Nicolas Ghesquière, then at Balenciaga, wasn’t one of them. “I didn’t know if I was going to be the cat or a cup of tea or a rabbit or...the possibilities were very large,” he remembers. In the end, relates Hamish Bowles, Ghesquière played a role created for him not by Carroll, but by Coddington herself: “a prince who gazed on as Alice fell through the looking glass.”
Role-play is an important part of fashion. In the early 2000s, as Bowles notes, the industry was drawing ever closer to Hollywood’s dream makers. One of the most extraordinary aspects of “Alice in Wonderland”—besides the styling and photography, of course—is that there’s no hierarchical star system to this tremendous team production. This shoot, says Leibovitz, “is wonderful because it’s working on so many levels...and, you know, everyone is sort of doing what they do at their best.” Coddington concurs: “When people say, you know, ‘What was your favorite shoot?’ I always quote this one. Without hesitation,” she says. “Everybody just was so good and so on it, and played their role and, and enjoyed themselves. And I think you see it in the pictures.”
In Vogue: The 2000s is presented by Anna Wintour, and produced by Vogue. Episode 6, “Annie Leibovitz and Grace Coddington: Down the Rabbit Hole of The Greatest Fashion Shoot of All Time,” features interviews with, in order of appearance, Annie Leibovitz, Natalia Vodianova, Olivier Theyskens, and Nicolas Ghesquiere. Vogue’s editorial team is Grace Coddington, Mark Guiducci, Mark Holgate, Nicole Phelps, and Laird Borrelli-Persson. Hosted by Hamish Bowles.
Explore all episodes of both seasons of the In Vogue podcast.
Annie Leibovitz: Wonderland with a foreword by Anna Wintour (Phaidon) will be on sale November 17.
