Jill Kennington was among the most successful models of her generation, embodying a fresh, youthful, and dynamic ideal of beauty that came to define the Sixties. Jill's memoir takes the form of an extended interview in which she responds vividly and with disarming frankness to questions from historian Philippe Garner, who initiated and shaped the project. Chapter titles such as 'To Turkey for Elle', 'To the Arctic for American Vogue', 'To Kenya with Peter Beard', and 'Cast for Antonioni's Blow-Up' give the flavour of Jill's professional experiences through those heady years. She describes her collaboration with some of the greatest photographers of the era, including Richard Avedon, William Klein, Saul Leiter, Helmut Newton, and Norman Parkinson; and she shares her memories of a remarkable cast of characters that includes Federico Fellini, Norman Hartnell, David Lean, Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, Terence Stamp, and Veruschka. Beyond Jill's precious insights into the worlds of fashion, modelling, film, and photography, this memoir is also a poignant account of intense emotional challenges and dark episodes in the roller-coaster of her private life - a moving and inspiring story of a young woman's journey to self-awareness
Philippe Garner has been an auction specialist for over fifty years and is an internationally recognised authority on the history of photography and on 20th century decorative arts and design. He has published extensively on these subjects and notably on the great photographers of fashion and style.
Title: Jill Kennington: Model Years
Author:
ISBN: 9781913491925
Binding:
Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group
Publication Date: 2021-09-06
Number of Pages: 200
Weight: 0.9803 kg
'A rare and generous account of modelling, the most silent of professions, from a model who personified Sixties fashion.' Alistair O'Neill - Professor of Fashion History and Theory, Central Saint Martins, London 'Absurdly beautiful, super smart, Vogue's 'Face of 1963', the only serious home-grown rival to Jean Shrimpton, Jill modelled furs in the Arctic and rode racing camels in Abu Dhabi (when she wasn't paragliding 300 feet above the ground for the Sunday Times). When eventually it wound down, another story began. Frankly, not to have heard of the singular Jill Kennington is to be ignorant of a significant chapter in the history of fashion and magazine photography.' Robin Muir - Contributing Editor, Vogue 'In this immediately absorbing book, Jill Kennington reveals her intimate, eye-witness account of being at the heart of fashion photography's most exciting decades. Key personalities and events are brought into vivid focus. Philippe Garner expertly steers the dialogue through his insightful questions, impressive understanding of the scene, and brilliant curation of accompanying images. Reading these pages is like eavesdropping on an in-depth conversation between friends with a tremendous knowledge of and shared passion for photography, style, and life lived to the full.' Martin Barnes - Senior Curator, Photography, Victoria and Albert Museum
