David Royston Bailey CBE (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer and director, most widely known for his fashion photography and portraiture, and role in shaping the image of the Swinging Sixties.

He raced through a series of dead end jobs, before his call up for national service in 1956, serving with the Royal Air Force in Singapore in 1957.

Unable to obtain a place at the London College of Printing because of his school record, he became a second assistant to David Ollins, in Charlotte Mews.

[5] Along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, Bailey captured and helped create the 'Swinging London' of the 1960s: a culture of fashion and celebrity chic.

The film Blowup (1966), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, depicts the life of a London fashion photographer who is played by David Hemmings, whose character was inspired by Bailey.

[7] The "Swinging London" scene was aptly reflected in his Box of Pin-Ups (1964): a box of poster-prints of 1960s celebrities including Terence Stamp, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton, P. J. Proby, Cecil Beaton, Rudolf Nureyev and East End gangsters, the Kray twins.

[9] American Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington, then a model herself, said "It was the Sixties, it was a raving time, and Bailey was unbelievably good-looking.

[5]Bailey was hired in 1970 by Island Records' Chris Blackwell to shoot publicity photos of Cat Stevens for his upcoming album Tea for the Tillerman.

In 1995 he directed and wrote the South Bank Film The Lady is a Tramp featuring his wife Catherine Bailey.

[13] In 2012, the BBC made a film of the story of his 1962 New York photoshoot with Jean Shrimpton, entitled We'll Take Manhattan, starring Aneurin Barnard as Bailey.

[citation needed] In October 2013, Bailey took part in Art Wars at the Saatchi Gallery curated by Ben Moore.

[15] In October 2020 Bailey's memoir Look Again in co-operation with author James Fox was published by Macmillan Books, a review on his life and work.

[16] Bailey began working with fashion brand Jaeger in the late 1950s when Jean Muir landed the role of designer.

After working alongside other fashion photographers such as the late Norman Parkinson, Bailey was officially commissioned by Vogue in 1962.

[17] His first shoot in New York City was of young model Jean Shrimpton, who wore a range of Jaeger and Susan Small clothing, including a camel suit with a green blouse and a suede coat worn with kitten heels.

Also on the shoot was model, philanthropist and film director Elisa Sednaoui along with GQ magazine's most stylish male 2003, Martin Gardner.