30/06/2025, 19:00
Past Event
The MOP Talks
The MOP Talks: Penelope Tree
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN PENELOPE TREE AND CATHERINE BAILEY, MODERATED BY TIM MARLOW
In this MOP Talk, model Penelope Tree — a key figure in the 1960s fashion and one of David Bailey’s great muses — spoke alongside Catherine Bailey, the photographer’s wife. They shared personal stories about their relationship with Bailey, their experiences posing for him, and the creative process behind his photographs, among other topics.
The event was moderated by Tim Marlow, curator of the exhibition David Bailey’s Changing Fashion.
PENELOPE TREE
Penelope was born and educated in New York City. At the age of sixteen she attended Truman Capote’s celebrated Black and White Ball, and the following morning was asked by American Vogue editor in chief Diana Vreeland to do some test shots with Richard Avedon. The results of that shoot marked the start of her career as a model. Subsequently she worked on several milestone features for American Vogue with Richard Avedon, as well as with many other photographers, including Guy Bourdin, Cecil Beaton, Patrick Lichfield, and Bert Stern. On a trip to London the following year, she met and worked with David Bailey on a story for British Vogue. Eight months later she moved to London to live with Bailey in his house in Primrose Hill. For a few years they worked and travelled together extensively, however in the early seventies, Penelope was obliged to give up modelling because of a skin ailment and she parted from Bailey in 1973.
In 1978 she married musician Ricky Fataar. Their daughter Paloma was born in 1980 and they went to live in Sydney. Australia where Penelope worked as a researcher on a TV program called Extra Dimensions and as a childbirth educator. In 1989 her son Michael was born. Two years later, she met His Holiness the Dalai Lama and subsequently became a student of Buddhism. In 1998 she returned with her family to London to live in the UK. Penelope has written pieces for British and American Vogue, Harper's & Queen, Financial Times, and in 2024 her first novel, Piece of My Heart was published by Moonflower Books.
She has served on the board of Lotus Outreach International for 23 years. In her seventies she resumed her modelling career, and has worked with Steven Meisel on two Zara campaigns, with Jurgen Teller for Vivienne Westwood, Cathy Casterine for Marfa Stance, as well as appearing on the catwalk for Fendi, Valentino, and Richard Quinn.
Her home is in West Sussex, UK.