Anyone who's seen The September Issue knows that Grace Coddington is a creative force to be reckoned with. The longtime creative director of Vogue has many credits to her name, but the one that doesn't get as much play in the fashion world is her role as ParAunt.

Coddington's sister, Rosemary, died young in the early 1970s, leaving behind a son, Tristan. Coddington raised her nephew, even going as far as to try and legally adopt the seven-year-old. But officials in Coddington's native Wales wouldn't allow it. "It was hardly surprising," she later said of the ordeal.

Despite her inability to legally adopt her nephew, Tristan became a true part of Coddington's nuclear family. Her then-partner, photographer Willie Christie, embraced the boy as his own. "Willie loved kids and took Tristan into the family," Coddington later said.

Perhaps we'll get to hear more candid thoughts on ParAunthood from Coddington soon - the editrix recently signed a $1.2 million deal to publish a memoir with Random House.

Melanie Linn Gutowski is a freelance writer and proud Godmother and ABC.

Photo Courtesy of IntelligentLife.com
Published: August 2, 2011