BIOGRAPHY OF JEAN SHRIMPTON

Jean Shrimpton is an English model, actress, hotel/innkeeper and antique/antique shop owner. She is considered one of the world’s first supermodels and was an icon of Swinging London. Shrimpton has appeared on numerous magazine covers including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Elle, Ladies’ Home Journal, Newsweek and also Time.

She was named one of the 26 best models of all time by Harper’s Bazaar and TIME named her one of the 100 most influential fashion icons of all time in 2012. She is named (as “Jeannie Shrimpton”) in The Smithereens song “Behind the Wall of Sleep” (1986).

Jean helped launch the miniskirt. She also made a two-week promotional visit to Australia, sponsored by the Victoria Racing Club and a local man-made fiber company which saw her promote a range of new dresses in Orlon. Shrimpton received a huge sum of £2,000 at the time.

AGE OF JEAN SHRIMPTON

Jean Rosemary Shrimpton is 76 years old in 2018. She was born on November 7, 1942 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. She is also referred to by other names such as Jean Cox, The Shrimp, Jeannie Shrimpton.

JEAN SHRIMPTON FAMILY | JOHN SHRIMPTON PARENTS

Shrimpton has a younger sister Chrissie who is also an actress. Chrissie has been linked to both Mick Jagger and Steve Marriott of The Small Faces. She did not share any information about her father and mother.

EDUCATION JEAN SHRIMPTON

Jean attended St Bernard’s Convent School, Slough. She then enrolled at Langham Secretarial College in London when she was 17. Jean had a chance encounter with director Cy Endfield which led to an unsuccessful meeting with the producer of his film Mysterious Island (1961). He then suggested that Shrimpton take the model course at Lucie Clayton Charm Academy.

Jean started modeling at the age of 17 in 1960. She appeared on the covers of popular magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and Vogue.

MICHAEL COX JEAN SHRIMPTON | JEAN SHRIMPTON MARI

Shrimpton married photographer Michael Cox in 1979 at the registry office in Penzance, Cornwall, when she was four months pregnant. The couple own the Abbey Hotel in Penzance, now run by their family.

TIMBRE TERENCE JEAN SHRIMPTON | TERENCE STAMP ET JEAN SHRIMPTON

Jean also had a very famous romance with actor Terence Stamp.

DAVID BAILEY JEAN SHRIMPTON

Jean began dating fashion and portrait photographer David Bailey after they began working together, and eventually had a four-year relationship that ended in 1964. When the couple started the affair , Bailey was still married to his first wife Rosemary Bramble. Bailey left Bramble after nine months to be with Shrimpton.

The lovebirds’ relationship is dramatized in a BBC Four film, We’ll Take Manhattan (January 26, 2012). In the film, Karen Gillan stars as Shrimpton.

THADDEUS COX

Cox was four months pregnant when she married Michael. The same year, they welcomed a son, Thaddeus Cox.

Loading… Loading…

JOHN SHRIMPTON’S CAREER

Her career rose to prominence through her work with photographer David Bailey. The two met in 1960 during a photo shoot Shrimpton was working on with photographer Brian Duffy for a Kellogg’s cornflake commercial. Then she was an unknown model. Brian Old Bailey, she was too chic for him, but Bailey was undeterred.Her first photo shoot with Bailey was in 1960 (either for Condé Nast’s Brides on December 7, 1960, or for British Vogue). Shrimpton first rose to prominence in the modeling world during her time working with Bailey. She has also said that she owes her career to Bailey and he is often credited with discovering her.

Jean was Bailey’s muse and her photographs of her helped him gain fame early in his career. She was widely regarded as the “highest paid model in the world”, the “most famous model” and the “most photographed in the world” during her career. Shrimpton has also been described as having the “most beautiful face in the world” and as “the most beautiful girl in the world”.

In June 1963, she was named Glamour’s “Model of the Year”. Shrimpton contrasted with the aristocratic looking models of the 1950s. It was in representing the coltish and gamine look of the youth tremor movement in the 1960s Swinging London. She has also been reported as ‘the symbol of Swinging London’. She broke the popular mold of voluptuous figures with her long legs and slender figure, and was nicknamed “the shrimp”. Shrimpton is also known for her long hair with bangs, wide doe eyes, long wispy eyelashes, arched eyebrows and pouty lips.

MELBOURNE JEAN SHRIMPTON CUP

Jean caused a stir in Melbourne when she arrived for the Victoria Derby wearing a white shift dress. The dress was made by Colin Rolfe which ended 5 in (13 cm) above his knees.

Shrimpton wore no hat, stockings or gloves and sported a men’s watch, which was unusual at the time. Little did she know she was going to provoke such a reaction in the Melbourne community and media. She was photographed in 1971 by Clive Arrowsmith, again for British Vogue.