Alexa Chung has long been a fan of Gill from Sam’s first groundbreaking book ‘Five Girls’ published in 1962. In particular the shots of Gill sitting on the floor in black over-the-knee socks
In August 2007, plans were announced for Alex Turner to record an album with Miles Kane, James Ford and Owen Pallett. This new side group was named The Shadow Puppets. A month or two before this announcement Alexa and Alex started dating, a relationship that lasted until mid 2011. Alexa it turns out was responsible for suggesting the image of Gill on the cover of the album.
The Age of the Understatement, was released on 21 April 2008 and reached number one in its first week. The resultant publicity caused some online speculation about the identity of the model. Gill, is alive and well, a painter and a grandmother living with family in South Africa. At the time she was an art student with no modelling experience who just turned out to be a natural in front of the camera.
Alexa now has a print of Gill in her black socks/stockings in her home and featured a variant of the shot (the first image in this post) in her book ‘IT’, to decorate a chapter discussing underwear choices. The book launched this month just as the October issue of British Vogue hit the book shelves with, Alexa on the cover. Nice timing.
Alexa’s quirky. eclectic wardrobe, infused with good taste and her sexy girl-next-door image is an excellent fit with the aesthetic values from Sam’s black and white work in the 60’s. We are happy to have her as a fan.
