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Norman Parkinson CBE (1913-1990)

Norman Parkinson, the quintessential Englishman, began his career photographing debutantes and their mothers in 1935. During the Second World War he worked for the Ministry of Air providing photographs for leaflets dropped in occupied Europe. Parkinson took his first work with British Vogue in 1942, beginning an association which lasted until 1978. In 1947 he met and married model Wenda Rogerson and made the first of what were to become annual trips to New York, photographing for American Vogue. Parkinson moved from London to Tobago in 1963 and was awarded the CBE in 1981. Interested in capturing the essence of real life in his fashion images Parkinson was one of the first photographers to shoot on location. In a long, distinguished career he photographed the most celebrated men and women for the most illustrious fashion and society periodicals with humour and joie de vivre.

Traffic Queen, 1960

With the onset of the sixties, the readership of Vogue became younger and more adventurous. In response to this, Parkinson began to take more experimental shots, communicating to the readership the way that the clothes would move and look when worn out and about.

Jerry Hall, Russia, 1975

After discovering Jerry Hall, Norman Parkinson posed the Texan in a variety of Russian settings wearing couture whilst on a 7000 mile tour of Russia in the seventies.

Phone Box, London, 1963

During the 1960's, Parkinson's adventurous style was well suited to the more provocative attitudes of the new decade. Here, he captures Melanie Hampshire the model and cast member of Michelangelo Antonioni's infamous film "Blow-Up."

Autumn Fuchsia, August 1957 (cover)

This cover shot from 1957 features a Rover 105, then priced at £1,595, 17s. When the image was reused for a 1991 Vogue book cover, the cigarette had to be airbrushed out.

Jerry Hall, May 1975 (cover)

Parkinson took Jerry Hall's first cover shot for British Vogue on their first shoot together in Jamaica.

National Gallery, London, 1949

Parkinson started working for American Vogue in 1949, for whom he photographed the London Spring Collections on location amidst the capital's landmarks. Here, Wenda Rogerson, Parkinson's third wife and muse together with Barbara Goalen, pose outside The National Gallery wearing Hardy Amies and Molyneux coats.

Wedding Outfits, 1938