Classics revisited

We recreate Brian Duffy’s portrait of Judy Dent taken on Westminster Bridge in 1961 for a Vogue fashion shoot

We revisit a sublime 1961 Brian Duffy portrait of the model Judy Dent

Brian Duffy is best known for his portrait and fashion photography of the sixties and seventies. He was one of three photographers, alongside David Bailey and Terence Donovan, who broke the mould of traditional fashion photography. Society photographer Norman Parkinson called them the Black Trinity, and The Sunday

Times dubbed them the Terrible Trio as they broke all the rules and became celebrities, often better known than many of their sitters.

Brian Duffy was born in London, in 1933 to Irish parents. After a rather troubled childhood, he gravitated to the arts and in 1950 joined Saint Martin’s School of Art to study painting before switching to dress design. He later worked for various designers before leaving to freelance for Harper’s Bazaar as a fashion artist.

It was at this time that he discovered photography, from studying the contact sheets that passed through his hands. He decided to become a fashion photographer’s assistant to learn the trade. In 1957 he landed a job at Vogue. It was a turning point in his career. Duffy shot many popular models during his time at Vogue, including Jean Shrimpton, Joy Weston and Judy Dent. In 1963 he left the magazine to set up his own studio.

Duffy was a regular contributor to The Sunday Times magazine, The Telegraph

magazine, The Observer and Harpers & Queen. He also worked for French Elle and big advertising clients such as Pirelli and Benson & Hedges, to name but a few.

However, he is perhaps best known for his portraits of many famous faces including John Lennon, Michael Caine, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Hockney and Nina Simone. In 1971 he designed and shot David Bowie’s famous Aladdin

Sane album cover. In 1979 it was believed that he suffered a breakdown, which led him to attempt burning his archive in his garden. Luckily, the local council intervened and many images were saved. In May 2010, Duffy died of pulmonary fibrosis, aged 76.

‘In 1979 it was believed he suffered a breakdown, which led him to attempt burning his archive in his garden’