Jean Shrimpton’s modeling career explored
Jean Shrimpton began her modeling career after attaining dismal results while attending secretarial school. She was spotted crossing a street by Cy Enfield (a film producer), who was interested in possibly using her in his film, “The Mysterious Island,” but after meeting with her suggested that she try modeling instead. She subsequently enrolled in Lucie Clayton Modeling School. She initially did lots of catalog and knitting pattern work until she was spotted by David Bailey while doing a shoot for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes with Brian Duffy in late 1960 or early 1961. The two of them subsequently worked together fairly exclusively for the next three years and are often credited with bringing Swinging London to America via their “Young Idea Goes West” shoot that appeared in the April 1962 issue of British Vogue (and was later dramatized in “We’ll Take Manhattan”). The photoshoot was done on the streets of New York and its sense of movement (gained through using a handheld camera), use of actual locations and the fresh-faced, more natural appearance of Jean Shrimpton was in stark contrast to the sophisticated models and highly contrived, artificial poses and studio sets that had been de rigeur up until that point. Bailey had to argue constantly with Lady Clare Rendalsham (a fashion editor at British Vogue) to both keep Shrimpton as the model and shoot in the places that he wanted to. However, Diana Vreeland (an associate editor of American Vogue at that point) was so enthralled by the two when she first encountered them that she exclaimed, “The English have arrived!” Shrimpton subsequently signed with the Ford Modeling Agency to handle her work in the U.S.
During her career, Shrimpton worked with all of the photography greats of the time period: Irving Penn, John French, Norman Parkinson, Cecil Beaton, Brian Duffy, Terence Donovan, Terry O’Neill, Peter Knapp, Jean Loup Sieff, Helmut Newton, Francesco Scavullo, Richard Avedon, Melvin Sokolsky, William Helburn, Bert Stern, and of course, David Bailey. She was variously described as “gamine,” “waif-like,” “quirky,” “willowy,” “elfin,” “doe-eyed” “gangly,” and “coltish.” Her natural, versatile, and slightly awkward appearance ushered in a new, more relatable model because as David Bailey once said, “Everyone likes Jean…”
Her April 1965 Harper’s Bazaar cover with the pink paper helmet and lenticular eye (for subscribers) is still considered groundbreaking today. She appeared on the cover of Newsweek, was chosen as Glamour Magazine’s “Model of the Year,” was overwhelmingly chosen as the woman that teenage London girls would most like to look like in 1967 (Jacqueline Kennedy came in second), was voted “Outstanding International Fashion Model of 1968,” and was voted Britain’s top model in 1964 and 1965. She was variously described as “the most beautiful girl in the world,” “the most photographed girl in the world,” “the look,” “the queen of English fashion,” and “the face.” Her nickname was “the Shrimp,” which she hated. In 1964 a mannequin was created in her likeness. In 1965 she designed a line of clothing for Mary Quant which was sold in Quant’s Bazaar stores in London and Paraphernalia in New York. She was the subject of a Dick Fontaine/Maysles Brothers ITV/World in Action/Granada Television documentary called, “The Face on the Cover,” and went on to star in one movie, “Privilege,” co-starring Paul Jones of Manfred Mann. She was also, for most of her career, the most highly-paid model ($60 an hour in 1965, eventually rising to $120 an hour by 1968). She got out of modeling rather early (mostly by 1970) although she continued to make sporadic appearances in the years afterwards.
She is one of the first supermodels. Suzy Parker certainly preceded her. Wilhemina and Verushka were her contemporaries, and Twiggy, Cheryl Tiegs, and Lauren Hutton followed her. She was referred to as a supermodel in Teen Magazine’s April 1966 story on her and again in Glamour’s February 1968 issue. As Teen put it, she was “...not only a face but also a name.” During the height of her career, she turned down more work than she accepted. It’s important to remember that when she was modeling she often did her own hair and makeup and was expected to bring such things as accessories, hairpieces and shoes with her to each assignment. She was one of the first (if not the first) model to have a product featuring her name and likeness (Yardley Londonderry Hair - which is now included in the Smithsonian Museum’s collection).
In addition to appearing in multiple advertisements for Yardley cosmetics (see Yardley page), she was also the spokesmodel for Venus Cream (an Italian product). She appeared in commercials and print advertisements for them where she was billed as “bella da vicino,” or “beautiful up close.” Furthermore, she was the face of Lambretta scooters’ 1967 calendar. Memorable ad campaigns include Pond’s Angel Face, Revlon’s Worldly Young Innocents, Max Factor’s Sheer Genius and Noveau Neutrals, Acrilan, Orlon, Cole’s Love Suit, Berkshire Stockings, Wish-bone Salad Dressing, Kayser (sleepwear), Nat Kaplan (dresses), Chanel No. 19, “100% Cotton - the fiber you can trust,” Lady Van Heusen, Burberry, and Bausch and Lomb. Many of these campaigns featured models other than Shrimpton as well. A number of ads Shrimpton appeared in were “one offs,” particularly the ads for London department stores and various synthetic fabrics (Ban Lon, Bri-Nylon, Courtelle, Tricel, etc.) Advertisers were hesitant to use Shrimpton after a certain point in her career as the public focused more on her as a person than the product she was supposed to be selling. At the beginning of her career, she was featured in more ads than layouts. As her career progressed, the balance shifted, and she gradually appeared in fewer ads. Ads that did feature her often capitalized on her name to sell their product.
The ads featured below consist of only a small portion of the ads Shrimpton appeared in throughout her career. I’ve focused on including the ads that are more “national” or “campaign-type” in scope, rather than highlighting ads which were local or only appeared once and were not part of a series. Yardley ads are included in the “Yardley” section of the website.
