The Lady Is a Tramp: Portraits of Catherine Bailey

by David Bailey, Fay Weldon

From the legendary David Bailey comes this collection of photographs - a tribute to his wife, the model Catherine Bailey. Divided into five sections - nudes, fashion, pregnancy, children and beauty - these images capture her in different incarnations, as wife, mother, lover, seductress...and as tramp. The text is provided by Fay Weldon, a close friend of both David and Catherine Bailey. She explores the relationship between the photographer and his wife, and wider themes such as the interaction of commerce and art, the status of photography as a "real" art-form and the different ways men and women see the world.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

David Bailey is one of the most respected photographers in the world. He worked as a fashion photographer for Vogue magazine, but he is also known for his work on the ‘Swinging London’ scene from the 1960s, which gave him celebrity photographer status.

Bailey’s fashion work and celebrity portraiture, characterized by stark backgrounds and dramatic lighting effects, transformed British fashion and celebrity photography from chic but reserved stylization to something more youthful and direct. His work reflects the 1960s British cultural trend of breaking down antiquated and rigid class barriers by injecting a working-class or “punk” look into both clothing and artistic products. Bailey himself became a celebrity who epitomized “swinging London”; he was known for his affairs with several celebrated women, among them the model Jean Shrimpton and the actress Catherine Deneuve, whom he married in 1965 (divorced 1972). He is thought to have inspired the role of the photographer, Thomas, in Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blow-up (1966).