Remembering Grace Mirabella and Her Inventive Magazine

Her namesake glossy challenged the expectations of what a fashion publication could be. Her former collaborators recall how it, and Ms. Mirabella, shaped them.

One day in 1989, Paul Sinclaire was directing a photo shoot in Los Angeles when he got a call from Grace Mirabella. After having been unceremoniously fired from her job at Vogue, where she was editor in chief from 1971 to 1988, Ms. Mirabella had a new magazine project in the works and found a backer in Rupert Murdoch.

“She said: ‘Do you want me to give you the punchline? The magazine is going to be called Mirabella,’” Mr. Sinclaire said. “I remember saying, ‘Gee, Grace, that’s quite a responsibility to use your own name.’”

Still, he accepted a job as special projects editor, joining fellow Vogue alumnae Jade Hobson, who became the executive creative director, and Amy Gross, who became the editor.