For a time, the Texan supermodel Jerry Hall – famous for her waist-length blonde waves and dazzling smile – was everywhere. She fronted campaigns for Christian Dior and Versace, stormed the runway for Oscar de la Renta and Thierry Mugler, and appeared frequently in the pages of British Vogue, photographed by legends such as Helmut Newton, David Bailey and Norman Parkinson.
Now, with her 70th birthday approaching (along with a no doubt scene-stealing turn in the next edition of Celebrity Traitors), Hall has returned to the magazine for the first time in perhaps a decade – and reflected on an extraordinary career. After more than 50 years in the spotlight, there is no shortage of shoots to revisit, though her first British Vogue cover in May 1975 and styled by Grace Coddington, remains a favourite: a portrait featuring Hall in a swimming cap with a bright blue telephone receiver tucked beneath it.
“Oh, that was fun,” she tells Kate Lloyd in the July 2026 issue, over a lunch of chicken thighs, peppery rocket and Whispering Angel rosé. “It went on for weeks and we were in Jamaica and it was beautiful.” Elsewhere, Parkinson snapped her walking poodles with Iman, and another time they travelled together on location to Soviet Russia. “They had all these tourist guides with us, spying on us like they thought we had some kind of telescopic cameras.” Parkinson got her to smuggle film out in her underwear. “Can you imagine? I was so scared.”
Below, revisit some highlights from Hall’s run of British Vogue shoots at the peak of her modelling career in the 1970s.