David Royston Bailey (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer and director, most known for his fashion photography and portraiture, and role in shaping the image of the Swinging Sixties. Bailey has also directed several television commercials and documentaries.
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Early life
David Royston Bailey was born at Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone, to Herbert Bailey, a tailor's cutter, and his wife Gladys, a machinist. From the age of three he lived in East Ham.
Bailey developed a love of natural history, and this led him into photography. As he had undiagnosed dyslexia, he experienced problems at school. He attended a private school, Clark's College in Ilford, where he says they taught him less than the more basic council school. As well as dyslexia he also has the motor skill disorder dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder).
In one school year, he claims he only attended 33 times. He left school on his fifteenth birthday to become a copy boy at the Fleet Street offices of the Yorkshire Post. He raced through a series of dead end jobs, before his call-up for national service in 1956, serving with the Royal Air Force in Singapore in 1957. The appropriation of his trumpet forced him to consider other creative outlets, and he bought a Rolleiflex camera.
Bailey was demobolized in August 1958, and, determined to pursue a career in photography, he bought a Canon rangefinder camera. Unable to obtain a place at the London College of Printing because of his school record, he became a second assistant to David Ollins, in Charlotte Mews. He earned £3 10s (£3.50) a week, and acted as studio dogsbody. He was delighted to be called to an interview with photographer John French.
Professional career
In 1959 Bailey became a photographic assistant at the John French studio, and in May 1960 he was a photographer for John Cole's Studio Five, before being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine later that year. He also undertook a large amount of freelance work.
Along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, Bailey captured and helped create the "Swinging London" of the 1960s: a culture of fashion and celebrity chic. The three photographers socialised with actors, musicians and royalty, and found themselves elevated to celebrity status. Together, they were the first real celebrity photographers, named by Norman Parkinson "the Black Trinity".
In 1966 Bailey directed the short film G.G. Passion.
The 1966 film Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, depicts the life of a London fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, whose character was inspired by Bailey. The Swinging London scene was aptly reflected in his Box of Pin-Ups (1964): a box of poster-prints of 1960s celebrities including Terence Stamp, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton, P. J. Proby, Cecil Beaton, Rudolf Nureyev and East End gangsters, the Kray twins. The Box was an unusual and unique commercial release. It reflected the changing status of the photographer that one could sell a collection of prints in this way. Strong objection to the presence of the Krays by fellow photographer, Lord Snowdon, was the major reason no American edition of the Box was released, and that a second British edition was not issued. The record sale for a copy of Box of Pin-Ups is reported as "north of £20,000".
At Vogue, Bailey was shooting covers within months, and, at the height of his productivity, he shot 800 pages of Vogue editorial in one year. Penelope Tree, a former girlfriend, described him as "the king lion on the Savannah: incredibly attractive, with a dangerous vibe. He was the electricity, the brightest, most powerful, most talented, most energetic force at the magazine".
American Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington, then a model herself, said "It was the Sixties, it was a raving time, and Bailey was unbelievably good-looking. He was everything that you wanted him to be – like the Beatles but accessible – and when he went on the market everyone went in. We were all killing ourselves to be his model, although he hooked up with Jean Shrimpton pretty quickly".
Fashion
Bailey began working with fashion brand Jaeger in the late 1950s when Jean Muir landed the role of designer. After working alongside other fashion photographers such as the late Norman Parkinson, Bailey was officially commissioned by Vogue in 1962.
His first shoot in New York City was of young model Jean Shrimpton, who wore a range of Jaeger and Susan Small clothing, including a camel suit with a green blouse and a suede coat worn with kitten heels. The shoot was titled 'Young Idea Goes West'.
After 53 years Bailey returned to Jaeger to shoot their AW15 campaign. As menswear subject; James Penfold modelled tailored tweed blazers and a camel coat. Also on the shoot was model, philanthropist and film director Elisa Sednaoui along with GQ magazine's most stylish male 2003, Martin Gardner.
Awards
2001: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as part of 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours.
2005: Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS), Royal Photographic Society.
2016: Lifetime Achievement award, Infinity Awards, International Center of Photography, New York.
Painting and sculpture
Bailey paints and sculpts. Some of his sculptures were shown in London in 2010, and paintings and mixed media works were shown in October 2011.
Television appearances
In the 1970s Bailey lost some equipment in a robbery and replaced it with the new Olympus OM system
equipment which was substantially smaller and lighter than contemporary competitors' equipment. He then appeared in advertising promoting the Olympus OM-1 35 mm single lens reflex camera. He subsequently appeared in a series of UK television commercials for the Olympus Trip camera.
Personal life
Bailey was married in February 1960 to typist Rosemary Bramble; they separated nine months later. He had a four-year relationship with Jean Shrimpton that ended in 1964. In the spring of 1965 he dated Jill St. John. Bailey was subsequently involved with model-turned-painter Sue Murray, but left her for Catherine Deneuve, whom he married on 18 August 1965 after a two-week courtship. They separated in 1967 and officially divorced in 1972. In November 1975, Bailey married model-turned-writer Marie Helvin. They amicably divorced in 1985. Since 1986, Bailey has been married to former model Catherine Dyer. Bailey and Dyer have three children.
Bailey's company is based in London. The family maintains a home on Dartmoor, near Plymouth.
Bailey was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2018.
Exhibitions
National Portrait Gallery 1971
One Man Retrospective Victoria & Albert Museum 1983
International Center of Photography (ICP) NY 1984
Curator "Shots of Style" Victoria & Albert Museum 1985
Pictures of Sudan for Band Aid at The Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) *1985
Auction at Sotheby's for Live Aid Concert for Band Aid 1985
Bailey Now! Royal Photographic Society in Bath 1989
Numerous Exhibitions at Hamiltons Gallery, London. 1989 to now
Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles 1990
Camerawork Photogallerie, Berlin. 1997
Carla Sozzani. Milan. 1997
A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans. 1998
Touring exhibition "Birth of the Cool" 1957–1969 & contemporary work
Barbican Art Gallery, London – 1999
National Museum of Film, Photography & Television, Bradford. 1999–2000
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden. 2000
City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2000
Modern Art Museum, The Dean Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2001