The last time Vogue creative director Grace Coddington was impressed by fashion, she was at a Balenciaga runway show in Paris.

Since then, designer Nicolas Ghesquiere has left the house, and it could be some time before Coddington, the woman now largely famous as the woman with flowing red hair perched next to Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at scores of catwalks each season, gets to see his clothes again.

Tears or even sympathy seem unlikely from Coddington. While in the eyes of industry observers she might be the good cop trying to defend fashion’s integrity and creative license, she also comes across – especially in her new autobiography, “Grace: A Memoir” (Random House) – as very matter of fact: the no-use-crying-over-spilled-milk type.