We’ll Take Manhattan is a stylish drama exploring the explosive love affair between photographer David Bailey and model Jean Shrimpton. Set in winter 1962, the film follows cockney photographer Bailey and relatively unknown model Shrimpton as they are sent to New York for a prestigious British Vogue shoot.
Long before David Bailey became the renowned photographer associated with some of the most iconic images of the 1960s, and before his high-profile marriages to French actress Catherine Deneuve and supermodel Marie Helvin, he was a photographer's “gofer”, with a poor school record and everything still to prove.
His very first job, in 1958, was as a second assistant and studio “dogsbody” for photographer David Ollins in Charlotte Mews, earning just £3.50 a week.
We’ll Take Manhattan covers one dramatic turning point in David Bailey's career and the launching of his muse, it-girl and model Jean Shrimpton.
By May 1960, Bailey was photographing for John Cole's Studio Five before being officially contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue later that year, launching him towards stardom.
This position is touched upon at the beginning of the film and dramatically shows the direct contrast between the work being produced for the fashion magazine and what David Bailey would go on to produce.
David Bailey, Jean Shrimpton and the Swinging Sixties
For anyone interested in fashion history, this is a stylish and glamorous step back in time to the Swinging Sixties — possibly one of the most revolutionary decades for style and culture we have seen since the Roaring Twenties.
The film explores the romantic entanglement between Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey beautifully. Her naivety and guts are played by Karen Gillan, opposite the dreamy good looks of a fired-up and creatively uncontrollable Bailey, played by Aneurin Barnard, who, if he is not from East London, certainly pulls off his cockney accent convincingly.
It is a love story, but not in the traditional boy-meets-girl sense. Bailey is married at the time of the now-famous New York Vogue streetwear shoot with the teddy bear.
It is the story of two super-talented young individuals who join forces against the snobbery of the establishment to express themselves and make waves in an industry they believe needs fresh eyes — smashing it up and starting again.
The Vogue shoot that changed fashion
Some of the funniest scenes are between a defiant Bailey and his boss, fashion editor Lady Claire Rendlesham, whom he cheekily calls “Lady C”.
Her relentless efforts to control and steer Bailey into doing things her way, and his constant resistance to her, eventually force her to concede to his way of doing things.
The pictures produced are some of the most famous on-location fashion images ever produced. They have stood the test of time, remaining relevant and modern today, which is why this film is so compelling.
And inspirational too.
It tracks the story right at the beginning — the most exciting part of everyone who achieves something magnificent's story. The bit right before something big happens, when they are just them, inviting the world to take a look because they are not yet invited to the table they want to sit at.
Why We’ll Take Manhattan is so inspiring.
This film brought me back to a quote attributed to Pablo Picasso:
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
It is brave and uplifting, and the perfect watch for anyone inspired by creativity and interested in shining the lens on the limitations of the system, snobbery and overcoming obstacles to success.
This film reminds us all:
“A gift opens doors for the one who gives it and brings him into the presence of the great.”
For fashion lovers, aspiring models, photographers, filmmakers, dreamers grinding and hoping that just one day that break will happen, We’ll Take Manhattan is a reminder to stay true.
An amazing film that explores how, just at the darkest times, the light shines through.
Jean Shrimpton. New York City. 1962.