Bailey, Jean and Kate

Something phenomenal happened last Thursday, a previous post of mine generated over 3000 hits in one day, the said post is here. The preferred search word  was 'Jean Shrimpton now'. The reason for this sudden flurry of interest was the airing of John McKays film, 'We'll Take Manhattan' on Britains BBC 4. The story centres around Bailey and Shrimpton's ground breaking 1962 photo shoot in New York, their love affair and the struggle to persuade stuffy old British Vogue to try something fresh, young and different.

  I watched and it was a highly enjoyable frothy drama, which perfectly fits in with the trend for recent history period dramas and the vintage clothing revolution. I especially enjoyed Helen McCrorys characterisation of the slightly neurotic  British Vogue fashion editor Lady Clare Rendlesham and the small appearance of Diana Vreeland, I would have liked to have seen more of her!  For those of you reading overseas, here is the trailer, I am sure it has already been sold abroad and if it does not appear on your screens soon, no doubt it will be on DVD.

Another post that received a flurry of hits is here, a post about Jean and her modelling contemporaries and what happened to them after the sixties.

In pre 1960's Britain most models were patrician beauties, plucked from the families of the landed gentry, it seems even a well brought up, middle class young lady from the home counties didn't quite cut the mustard.  And if that was not enough, a cheeky, working class, young photographer wanted to photograph her amidst a raw, gritty environment and pose her naturally. Below are Baileys photographs of seventeen year old Jean Shrimpton which caused such a fuss but contributed to the sixties youth quake liberation and the blurring of the social classes in sixties Britain.

And later... a polished Jean Shrimpton and one of the greatest models of all time.

Following the film was an excellent documentary on David Bailey 'Six Bars to the Beat' (how I love BBC 4, so glad this channel was saved from being axed as part of the BBC cuts).  Crusty, weasy, sniggery old Bailey, he is now 73. At times he can be toe curlingly crude but I couldn't help but like him, refreshingly non politically correct and he does talk a lot of sense. Talking heads included, Jerry Hall, Catherine Deneuve, Mary Quant and Catherine Bailey.

In the documentary Bailey declared that the only model that has the same qualities that Shrimpton had is Kate Moss, Bailey went onto to discuss how their brand of beauty is universally appealing, I can't remember his exact words but I think he mentioned how they could be the girl next door and how they are not classical beauties but beautiful.  I thought I would explore this...

Just like Jean Shrimpton but for very different reasons Kate Moss did break the mould when she bounced onto the scene in 1989, her story is well known and has become fashion legend, when she was 14 years old she was spotted at JFK airport by Storm model agency founder and owner Sarah Dukas, controversy followed, too young, too thin etc. Controversy has been following Kate ever since but she was completely different to the intimidatingly beautiful, curvaceous, Amazonian supermodels who were dominating the catwalks, glossies and pop videos of the late eighties and early nineties.

Peter Lindeberghs photograph of the supermodels, British Vogue cover January 1990

Corinne Days photoshoot of fifteen year old Kate Moss for The Face magazine

 

Polished Kate, heading towards 40, enduringly photogenic, Mario Testino for Vogue August 2011

To further investigate Baileys claims of the similar appeal of Kate and Jean I thought it may help to see them both on film...

Young Kate auditioning for a L'Oreal commercial

 

Jean Shrimpton in the 1967 film privilege

There is no doubt that both women are beautiful, with incredible bone structure and both ridiculously photogenic.  I wonder, will they be making a film about Kate Moss in fifty years time?  As there is a sculpture in her image cast in gold and Lucien Freuds painting of her sold for 3.93million pounds, not to mention her well documented rock and roll lifestyle...I think it's a certainty.

If your still hanging in there you can see and hear more of Baileys thoughts here...

Cocooning

 The lovely Jean Shrimpton, all cosied up. Dressed by Yves Saint Laurent, photo taken by David Bailey for Vogue 1964.

Something for the Weekend

Cecil Beaton and Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey

 Cecil Beaton and David Bailey

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

XXX

Blonde Geisha

Jean Shrimpton by Cecil Beaton 1964

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend

XXX

Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey

 Jean Shrimpton with David Bailey, by Terry O'Neill, 1963

 Jean Shrimpton with David Bailey, David Bailey, 2006

Click here to see more of Jean Shrimpton

The World of Modelling and how to get the London Model Girl Look

The Lovely Jean Shrimpton, John French

'The World of modelling and how to get the London model girl look' by Lucie Clayton, published in 1968 was a pivotal book for me, I found it on one of the bookshelves in our family home when I was around ten or eleven, and became instantly fascinated by the wonderful photographs and images within it's pages, I am sure that this book was partly responsible for my love of photography and retro fashion.

 Jean Shrimpton, former Lucie Clayton girl, after a hugely successful modelling career, she married photographer Michael Fox, in 1979, they own and run the beautiful Abbey Hotel, in Penzance, Cornwall.

Jean Shrimpton, 1966

By the time I got hold of the book it was the late 1970's and it was the first time I was aware of reading about the great fashion photographers and the models of the sixties, the book had chapters on skin care, how to apply make up and the importance of good deportment.  Sadly I don't know what happened to the book and I am currently in the process of trying to get hold of a copy.

Lucie Clayton teaching deportment

Lucie Clayton originally named Sylvia Lucie Golledge founded The Lucie Clayton Charm Academy, a finishing school for well heeled young ladies and débutantes in 1928, most of the models in the thirties were young society ladies and débutantes who graced the pages of publications such as 'The Tatler', Lucie was so successful in offering modelling instruction, she opened 'The Lucie Clayton Model Agency in 1938.

 

 Fiona Campbell-Walter in 1954 another successful Lucie Clayton Girl.  Fiona became Baroness Fiona Thyssen and appeared in an iconic documentary with Alan Whicker, shortly after the documentary aired, she realised that being the wife of one of the richest men in the world was not all it was cracked up to be, she divorced Thyssen, she has remained friends with Alan Whicker ever since.

 Fiona Campbell Walter with John French

 Fiona Campbell Walter with Anne Gunning

 In the sixties the academy became a grooming school, producing young ladies skilled in  flower arranging, cookery, deportment, make up, hair care and most importantly how to get in and out of a sports car!

Some of those subjects were maintained in the curriculum of the Lucie Clayton Secretarial College after it opened in 1964, and in 1972 shorthand classes "were followed by lessons in dinner party planning and invitation etiquette".

In more recent decades the courses offerings "reflected the wider career options open to professionally trained young men and women with advertising, finance, marketing, human resources and office management training all making a mark on the timetable" and the school merged with St James's College in 2003.

The school building was transformed into Lucie Clayton House in 2007, offering "bachelor pad" small apartments and flats for couples with no children. On each landing "pictures of Lucie Clayton pupils arranging flowers, or learning how to type, a poignant reminder of the building's past" are displayed.

 

Joanna Lumley, another former Lucie Clayton girl, I remember reading in the book, (it was published in 1968) that Joanna showed great promise!

Tania Mallett, former pupil, by John French, she went onto appear in Goldfinger

Other successful models in the sixties that had the look;

Grace Coddington, Once Vogue Cover girl, Now American Vogue's Creative Director.

 Grace Coddington, Patrick Litchfield

Celia Hammond, Terence Donovan, Celia now runs 'The Ceilia Hammond Animal Trust' for unwanted and abused cats, dogs and other pets, in London.

 Celia Hammond, Vogue Cover

 Celia Hammond, Terence Donovan

Pattie Boyd the former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

Jill Kennington, now a successful photographer.

Pauline Stone, Former wife of actor Laurence Harvey and Hard Rock Cafe tycoon Peter Morton.

 Sandra Paul, married the British Conservative minister and former leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard.

 

 Nicole de la Marge, the most versatile face of the sixties.

The Iconic face of Twiggy, she broke the mould in more ways than one, with social classes blurring in Sixties Britain, you no longer had to be 'posh' to be a successful fashion model, Twiggy is still going strong,  she is currently the face of Marks and Spencers.

Twiggy For Marks and Spencers