Bailey’s photograph captures Jean Shrimpton during his groundbreaking New York sessions. Part of the ‘Young Idea Goes West’ feature for British Vogue in 1962, this image represents Bailey’s revolutionary approach to location fashion photography. Shot with a 35mm camera, the photograph demonstrates the spontaneous, documentary-like quality Bailey brought to fashion imagery.

Vogue Editor Lady Clare Rendlesham initially rejected these photographs as too radical, but fashion editor Diana Vreeland recognised their groundbreaking potential. This image demonstrates Bailey’s technical mastery of 35mm photography, eschewing the cumbersome large-format cameras that were standard in the industry.

Art historian Martin Harrison noted in the publication Black and White Memories that these New York photographs showed ‘Bailey’s awareness of Pop Art and a broader Urban-Pop sensibility.’ With Shrimpton positioned against a backdrop of men’s suits, the composition creates a striking visual contrast that juxtaposes the model’s youthful energy and distinctive beauty against the traditional masculine context.

This work is pivotal when Bailey was actively transforming fashion photography from studio-bound formality to street-level authenticity, abandoning studio artifice for authentic documentation of lived experience, influencing generations of photographers who followed.