Jean Rosemary Shrimpton (born 7 November 1942) is an English model and actress. She was an icon of
Swinging London and is considered to be one of the world's first supermodels. She appeared on covers such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Elle, Ladies' Home Journal, Newsweek, and Time magazines
Born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and brought up on a farm, Shrimpton was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough. She enrolled at Langham Secretarial College in London when she was 17. Later it was suggested to her to attend the
Lucie Clayton Charm Academy's model course abd in 1960, aged 17, she began modelling, appearing on the covers of popular magazines such as
Vogue,
Harper's Bazaar, and
Vanity Fair. During her career, Shrimpton was widely reported to be the "world's highest paid model", the "most famous model", and the "most photographed in the world". She was dubbed "The It Girl", "The Face", and "The Face of the '60s".
Glamour named her "Model of The Year" in June 1963. She contrasted with the aristocratic-looking models of the 1950s by representing the coltish, gamine look of the youthquake movement in 1960s Swinging London, and she was reported as "the symbol of Swinging London." By breaking the popular mould of voluptuous figures with her long legs and slim figure, she was nicknamed "The Shrimp".