The protagonist of Swinging London, David Bailey created the style of lightness in photography. It led to the success of icons like Twiggy, Penelope Tree and Verushka
In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni shot a film that was to become a classic – Blow Up, a portrait of Swinging London and its riotous 60s. With his triumph at Cannes the following year, David Hemmings – the star of the film, which featured him in a sexually charged photo romp with the irresistible Verushka – became the film equivalent of the star of the magazine shoot, David Bailey. But why was a photographer who was thought of as working class chosen as a model? It was because it was with Bailey, the architect of one of the great fashion revolutions of our time,
that photography took on a powerful new social role and cemented its own iconic status, halfway between dream and reality.