Jill Kennington: Model Years

Former model Jill Kennington reflects on fashion, fame, film, and photography in 1960s London.

Jill Kennington was among the most successful models of the 1960s, embodying a fresh, youthful, and dynamic ideal of beauty that came to define the decade. This memoir takes readers inside her life in the form of an extended interview with historian Philippe Garner. With disarming frankness, Kennington details her professional experiences during those heady years and describes her collaborations with some of the greatest photographers of the era, including Richard Avedon, William Klein, Saul Leiter, Helmut Newton, and Norman Parkinson. Her memories include a remarkable cast of characters, with appearances from Federico Fellini, Norman Hartnell, David Lean, Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, Terence Stamp, and Veruschka von Lehndorff.

A poignant account of intense emotional challenges and dark episodes in the roller coaster of her private life, this is the inspiring story of a young woman's journey to self-awareness.