In Vogue: The Editor s Eye Documentary Clip

It was my idea to do Alice in Wonderland.

You know, all those fairy stories are quite dark actually.

They re all full of drugs and darkness

and things like this.

So they re interesting to illustrate

because it s not just Walt Disney sweet.

It was Anna s idea to cast all the designers

as the characters.

It was really the beginning of a time

when the designers were starting to become

such superstars themselves.

Now, it s kind of matter of fact

that Marc Jacobs will get mobbed in the street.

It wasn t like that back then.

She wanted me to play the caterpillar

smoking hookah, right?

I had torn a tendon in my finger

so I was like, Grace, I just went through this operation.

Do I really have...

And she was like, Well, there s no other dates,

and you ve got to do it.

Originally I said no, and then I got a call from Grace.

Then I got a call from Anna.

(gentle tinkling music)

You know, you can never say no to Grace.

We shot it with Natalia,

who s really a favorite model of mine.

Did my eyes just slip out?

Did you see that?

(laughs)

I m a big, big fan of Grace.

Just even watching her work is fascinating.

It s really like story boarding a film.

Grace looked at every possible book

on different drawings of Alice in Wonderland,

different editions of Alice in Wonderland.

Grace sent me the books to read

before I did the shoot.

Months of preparation, of research, of conversation,

and then I m the lucky one who ends up in the picture.

(light rhythmic strings)

She s stepping through the mirror

and somehow everything was back to front.

She s stepping through the mirror this way,

and all the ruffles and detail was here

and the camera s here.

She said, Can we put this dress on back to front?

And I said, No, we can t, actually.

I saw Nicolas Ghesquiere from Balenciaga

going slightly pale.

I remember Grace looking at me and said,

Can you do something?

I was like, OK, how long do you give me?

She said, Half an hour.

I said, 45 minutes?

It was a very fancy dress.

It was very intricate

with all these crazy ruffles in the back.

And we went to the van--

And he took it completely apart

and put all the ruffles on the other side.

Then we shot it.

But it was, oh my God, it s back to front.

It s like...

Well, it s the mishaps that make it fun

and brings you the surprise.

God forbid that a shoot would be perfect,

Grace wouldn t have anything to complain about.