In a surprise move, Grace Coddington has resigned as creative director of American Vogue. Business of Fashion announced the news, saying that she will now be taking on a “growing number of external projects alongside her styling duties at the magazine”.

While she is stepping down from the position, it is understood that Coddington will remain on the magazine’s masthead. “After more than 25 years at American Vogue, Grace Coddington will assume the role of creative director at large and take on additional projects outside the magazine,” a spokesperson for the publication told BoF. “She will work on several Vogue fashion shoots throughout the year.”

“I really love Vogue, it’s been in my life always, they discovered me as a model at 19,” the 74-year-old stylist told the publication. “I’m not running away from Vogue, because it has opened so many doors. But it will be nice to collaborate, and nice to go out (and) give talks to people. It’s just another approach. I’m certainly not going into retirement. I don’t want to sit around.”

It is understood that Coddington has signed to an agency – Great Bowery. “I suddenly realised that I needed some help from outside,” she said of her decision. “I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into just styling a shoot, I wanted to do something beyond. I approached them and they were willing to help me on all sorts of aspects. They’re thinking up ideas for me, which is fun.”

While Coddington is one of the industry’s most acclaimed stylists, she entered the public consciousness in 2009 after starring in R. J. Cutler’s 2009 documentary The September Issue about American Vogue. The film portrayed her as the unsung heroine of the magazine. More recently, it emerged that Sony wanted to make a film specifically about her, based on her 2012 book Grace Coddington: A Memoir. 

Watch the trailer for The September Issue below: