#1452 Grace Coddington played peek-a-boo with Carey Mulligan to make her laugh for Vogue

Photo: Catwalk Queen

Carey Mulligan has nabbed the October cover of American Vogue, making her the fourth child-of-the-80s to get a nod from Anna Wintour this year (the others were Gisele Bundchen, Jessica Biel and Blake Lively). Shot in the French countryside by Peter Lindbergh and styled by Grace Coddington, Mulligan wears Chanel Haute Couture (plucked straight off the runway), and does a mighty fine job making it look natural. In a behind-the-scenes video over on the brand new Vogue.com, Coddington says,

"Carey's a favourite of mine, she's so utterly charming and so yeah, we thought, put her charm into a big fancy Couture dress, and it sort of brings it back down to earth and makes you feel that you could really wear it which is sometimes the problem of Couture – it's almost very removed, you know."

To bring out Mulligan's charm, laughter was essential. But as we all know, when one is thrown in front of a camera and told to 'Look happy!', sometimes the best one can manage is a confused grimace. Starlets, it would seem, are not immune to such nerves. In her first shoot with the young actress, Grace Coddington had to go to extra lengths to put her at ease.

According to Mulligan,

"Working with Grace is a huge honour, because, you know, when I first worked with her I was intimidated, I didn't know what she'd be like or if she'd be friendly but then you meet her and she's just so warm. When we shot the first time in New York, she wanted me sort of laughing and I found that so hard, so she started hiding behind David Simms and then jumping out just to kind of get me to react and so now when I see her next to Peter I just laugh because I have images of her just popping out from behind photographers. The direction on set from both of them has been really about them making me laugh."

And despite her newfound world fame, Mulligan isn't letting it go to her head. She says,

"My Mum was like, completely dumbfounded by the idea of being on an American Vogue cover. Every day I'm pinching myself – it's beyond anything I ever thought would happen."

Amazing.

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