"The Debutante in the Duck Pond"

20.08.05
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The Saturday Times Magazine

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PHOTOGRAPHER DAFYDD JONES
YEAR 1982
LOCATION ASCOT

During the Eighties, Dafydd Jones spent years taking photographs of the characters doing the rounds of debutantes’ “coming out” balls and 21st-birthday parties. But of all the shots of girls in ballgowns and chaps in black tie, his favorite features a girl called Pop Vincent in mid-air, on her way into a pond, courtesy of her friend, Charles McDowel. The event took place in July 1982 near Ascot, and as the party descended into drunken dunking, the mother of the young hostess became increasingly upset. “Ballgowns were ruined, dinner jackets got soaked,” says Jones. “It all descended into chaos, but I was very pleased with my shot of Pop. It’s because of that plant behind her head. It looks like a huge David Hockney splash. Without the plant, the picture wouldn’t have worked. I was incredibly lucky to catch the moment from the right angle... She was a good sport about the whole thing. Charles McDowel has since got married. I see them sometimes and I always remind his wife not to anywhere near ponds with him.”
It was one of the first pictures Jones documented for Tatler, and the magazine, under Tina Brown’s editorship, printed the shot very small. “Although it was small, loads of people noticed this photograph. And when Tina left to go to the States, a newspaper ran a feature anout how she changed Tatler, and this was one of the photographs included. People were sill talking about it for a long time afterwards.”
JOANNA PITMAN