Penelope Tree (born 2 December 1949) is an English fashion model who rose to prominence during the swinging sixties in London.

Family

Penelope Tree is the only child of Ronald, a British journalist, investor and Conservative MP, and

Marietta Peabody Tree Marietta Peabody Tree (April 17, 1917 – August 15, 1991) was an American socialite and political reporter, who represented the United States on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, appointed under the administration of John F. Kenn ...

, a U.S. socialite and political activist. She is the half-sister of both the racehorse trainer

Jeremy Tree Arthur Jeremy Tree (21 December 1925 – 7 March 1993) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Background Born into a prominent London family, Tree was always known by his middle name, Jeremy. His father was Ronald Tree, an American-born ...

and the author Frances FitzGerald and a niece of former Massachusetts governor

Endicott Peabody Endicott Howard Peabody (February 15, 1920 – December 2, 1997) was an American politician from Massachusetts. A Democrat, he served a single two-year term as the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1965. His tenure is probably ...

Life and career

Her family initially objected to her career as a model, and when she was first photographed at the age of 13 by

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...

, her father vowed he would sue if the pictures were published. Tree made a striking appearance at the 1966

Black and White Ball The Black and White Ball was a masquerade ball held on November 28, 1966, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hosted by author Truman Capote, the ball was in honor of ''The Washington Post'' publisher Katharine Graham. Impulse Truman Capote deci ...

thrown by author

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

, wearing a black V-neck tunic with long slashes from the bottom making floating panels, worn over black tights. The sensation she caused led photographers

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the t ...

and

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

to work together to make her a supermodel. She was sixteen and her father had relented. David Bailey described Penelope as "an Egyptian

Jiminy Cricket Jiminy Cricket is the Disney version of the " Talking Cricket" (Italian: ''Il Grillo Parlante''), a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'', which Walt Disney adap ...

". In 1967, Tree moved into Bailey's flat in London's Primose Hill neighbourhood. It became a social space for hippies during the "Swinging Sixties" who, Bailey recalled, would be "smoking joints I had paid for and calling me a capitalist pig!" In another famous quote,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

asked to encapsulate Tree in three words, called her, "Hot, Hot, Hot, Smart, Smart, Smart!" She has been extensively compared to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

for inspiring the swinging 60's movement and for galvanizing a generation of young American females. Scars from late-onset acne ended her career in the early 1970s: "I went from being sought-after to being shunned because nobody could bear to talk about the way I looked." In 1972, she was arrested for possession of cocaine. In 1974, Bailey and Tree split up and she moved to Sydney. She appeared in the British comedy film ''

The Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series ''Rutland We ...

'' in 1978. She was married to South African musician

Ricky Fataar Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African-English multi-instrumentalist of Cape Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'', a spoof on ...

(a member of

The Flames The Flames was a musical rock group from Durban in South Africa. They performed across London in the late 1960s, where they met Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia, Miles Davis and Carl Wilson. They later traveled to Los Ange ...

, and the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

). She has two children, Paloma Fataar (a graduate of

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

and a student of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

and music), and Michael MacFarlane, by her relationship with Australian Jungian analyst Stuart MacFarlane. Penelope Tree is a patron of Lotus Outreach, a charity which works in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

in partnership with local grassroots women's organisations to give girls from the very poorest families the wherewithal to go to school. In 2011 she appeared as an interviewee for a documentary on the life of fashion editor

Diana Vreeland Diana Vreeland (September 29, 1903 – August 22, 1989) was a French-American fashion columnist and editor. She worked for the fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' and as editor-in-chief at ''Vogue'', later becoming a special consultant to the ...

References

External links

Interview with Penelope Tree, ''The Guardian'', 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, Penelope 1950 births Living people English female models English people of American descent English philanthropists English expatriates in Australia Place of birth missing (living people) Models from London Peabody family Marshall Field family