The Glossy Years: Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs

by Nicholas Coleridge Narrated by Nicholas Coleridge

Overview

Brought to you by Penguin.

Over his thirty-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague. The Glossy Years also provides perceptive insight into the changing and treacherous worlds of fashion, journalism, museums and a whole sweep of British society. This is a rich, honest, witty and very personal memoir of a life splendidly lived.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"I adored it. Coleridge has a Waugh-like eye for hilarious social nuance and a Henry Jamesian ear for precision. He is both self-deprecating and shrewd as he regales us with his rollicking ride as editor and tastemaker in the world of British glossy magazines: an irresistible read." —Tina Brown


"Coleridge writes like a dream." —Observer


"Coleridge dissects the social mores with the precision of Tom Wolfe." —New Yorker


"Coleridge fixes the world with a glittering eye." —Financial Times


"The most entertaining book of the year." —Sunday Times


"Has bounding vitality, glorious zest and and an uplifting generosity of spirit. It is always playful, sometimes hilarious - but above all it is wise." —Literary Review


"Coleridge is a witty writer . . . reading this book is like sitting next to a sharp but generous-hearted raconteur at dinner." —Mail on Sunday


"Gentle, jolly . . . Blissfully funny . . . One might wish to make people as happy, personally and professionally, as Coleridge has done - and will continue to do with this amusing book." —Sunday Telegraph

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172510526
Publisher:	Random House UK
Publication date:	09/26/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Within a week of my appointment as Managing Director, the
Editor of Vogue, Liz Tilberis, resigned to take a job in New York
as Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, working for Hearst. Whether it
was my confirmation as her new boss, or the lure of the bumper
American pay packet which decided her, was never spelt out,
but it was certainly helpful. We spent the days following her
departure ensuring that all the Vogue photographers remained
onside, and wouldn’t defect with Liz to Bazaar, and this largely
worked. Condé Nast’s not- so- secret USP was the ability to
have first dibs on photographers, models and stylists, and this
privilege was fiercely enforced.
You were either a Vogue photographer or you were not a
Vogue photographer, you couldn’t hawk your talent from title
to title. Similarly, if you wanted to be a Vogue cover model,
there was no point queering your pitch by fronting Elle, Bazaar
or Cosmopolitan. Photographer’s agents and model agencies had
always understood this nuance, which very nearly but didn’t
quite qualify as restraint of trade. Nowhere was it written
down, it was simply understood. An Editor murmured, ‘Obviously
it’s entirely your choice where you want to work. It’s a
free world and up to you. It would just be very sad for Vogue,
never being able to work with you again. Or any of the other
international Vogues. But don’t let me try and influence you. It’s
your call.’
Alexandra Shulman was doing a great job on GQ, and it was
tempting to switch her to Vogue. She still looked slightly too
hippy- chick to be a Central Casting shoo- in for Vogue Editor in-
Chief, but she was clever and understood the magazine. An
interesting phenomenon about Vogue is that you receive fewer
external applicants for Editor than for other titles. So revered is
it, it deters most chancers from throwing their hats into the
ring; they self- edit themselves from the running. This is the
exact opposite of, say, Tatler or House & Garden where you might
get ninety or more applicants for Editor. Anyone who has ever
been to a party or bought a cushion or made a pair of curtains,
sees themselves as a credible candidate.
Seeking an Editor for Tatler in the late nineties, I received an
application from the ex- wife of a world- famous banker. She
wrote, ‘I have attended many of Europe’s grandest parties and
balls, and am experienced at dealing with staff. We had more
than forty staff in our houses around the world.'

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