Did Shrimpton have style? BAILEY: Not in her private life. Her style was no style. She was the first model to be scruffy. You know, in America all those middle class girls would come to the studio with their hair all done and their silly model bag, but Jean just came in jeans or whatever. Jean Shrimpton Mexico, Vogue, January 1963 (unpublished) © David Bailey (5 of 20) Was she as beautiful off-camera as she was on-camera? BAILEY: Jean's got a magic face. And faces don't have to be beautiful. I mean look at Sophia Loren. She's got a dodgy nose, dodgy mouth, funny little round face. But she's one of the most beautiful people in the world. It's just a magic that comes across. And intelligence. You know, they knock all the "supermodels," but Naomi Campbell's as bright as they come. And Christy Turlington. And Cindy Crawford. There's an intelligence that comes through. I don't know... it just comes out in the eyes. How long did your relationship with Shrimpton last? BAILEY: Within three months, I think, we were living together. What was it about you that she responded to? Were you rough trade? BAILEY: No, she wasn't that posh. I think the big advantage I've always had with women is that I'm quite funny and I don't take things too seriously. And I think if you want to get somebody into bed the best way to do it is to make them laugh. So you weren't especially suave? BAILEY: Suave? No! I've never been suave. You and Shrimpton must have been quite a powerful duo. In a way, you represented a new day. BAILEY: It was kind of natural, too. But it was difficult to get that across to Americans because they liked what I was doing for British Vogue, and they wanted to do it, but they didn't want to quite do it. The first time they had Jean in New York, they took her into the makeup room and she came out looking like somebody in Glamour, you know, a sweet face and pink lipstick. I actually didn't recognize her. In America it's always, "Can we have that? But can we change it?" They didn't really understand. When did you come to New York? BAILEY: I came in '60, '61, and for, I think, about 11 years, I had a contract with American Vogue. Then I had another contract in the late '60s with Italian Vogue, and that lasted about 15, 16 years. When Diana Vreeland came from Harper's Bazaar to take over American Vogue in '63 I thought I'd get the elbow because I thought she'd bring Richard Avedon and all those Harper's Bazaar photographers. But she didn't. Diana Vreeland October 1967 © David Bailey (6 of 20) Do you remember the first time you met Vreeland? BAILEY: Yes. Jean and I were in New York, and we had an appointment to meet her. For some reason we were staying at Charlton Heston's apartment in Tudor Towers, and we ended up walking to Vreeland's office in the Graybar Building because we couldn't get a cab—the rain was coming down like cats and dogs. Jean's makeup was running, and we both had leather jackets on and I had cowboy boots—which was all kind of revolutionary. Anyway, we were arguing because Jean said, "I can't go see Vreeland like this." And I said, "Hey, it's better to turn up than not to turn up." So we were ushered in by all the kind of sycophants, you know, the typical fashion thing—pushed into this sort of magic cave with red-lacquer walls, leopard-print carpet, the blinds pulled, and all these Rigaud candles burning. So there we were, these two drowned rats dripping on her smart carpet. Vreeland stood up, pulled her glasses down, and said, "STOP! The English have arrived!" And then she became one of our best mates. So you had a number of contracts and you had a relationship with one of the most desirable women in the world. Did you feel that you had risen above your circumstances? BAILEY: I couldn't believe my luck. There I was getting paid to do photography, which I loved, and the bonus was I photographed women all day!