b'A Hometown Girl RevolutionizesWhats in VogueYou can take the editor out of Maplewood. BY ADRIANNA DONATGrace Mirabella wrote her memoir, In and Out of Vogue, in 1995.This story spotlights Grace Mirabella, a woman who graduated from Columbia High School and whose professional life reflected the values of our community.She passed away in December 2021. We hope you enjoy learning more about a local visionary.T GraceMirabellascolleaguesintheeconomics at Skidmore College. of difference thatinfluence, and the employees were predominantly o fashion industry, being from New Jer- For Mirabella, being from northern New Jerseywhite. The industry joke was that society parents sey, and particularly having grown upmay have been the critical pointcouldsendtheir in Newark, was just short of scandalous.made her one of the most significant cultural influ- daughters to col-Despiteherassociatesdisdain,encers of the 1970s. Unlike her colleagues, who werelege or to Vogue. Grace Mirabella (1929-2021), editor- brought up in wealthy enclaves of Manhattan, LongThebenefitof in-chief of Vogue Magazine for 17 yearsIsland, and even Europe, Mirabellas past in the sol- working at Vogue and founder of Mirabella Magazine, embraced heridly middle-class areas of New Jersey made her anwastheywould New Jersey roots. She was very proud to be part ofoutsider. But she was an outsider poised to under- earn pin money the class of 1946 at Columbia High School. In morestand the coming social changes as women joinedtoamusethem-than one interview she sang the praises of CHS, call- the work force. selves on the so-ing it, a very good school. She moved to Maple- Mirabella started in the world of fashion in thecial scene in New wood from Newark with her family when she was in1950s, where she later described editors who wereYork City.junior high school, and spoke happily about playingfound in the pages of the social register; most wereBut Mirabella tennis, going to her favorite local ice cream shop inchosen because they had long legs and high cheek- wasntinterested town with friends, and ironically, failing home eco- bones. While it was not policy, women were encour- intellingdebu-Grace Mirabella was in the Co-nomics. Once she graduated, she went on to studyaged not to wear glasses. There was a heavy Europeantantesaboutthelumbia High School class of 1946.50/ matters magazine / fall 2022'