Jenny Kee

Who is Jenny Kee?

Jenny Kee is an Australian fashion designer. She was born in Bondi to a Cantonese father and a mother of partially Italian descent. Kee started her career in fashion in modelling, at one time featuring as the face of Canadian Airlines advertisements. She was married to Australian artist Michael Ramsden for 21 years.

In 1965 she moved to London and became involved in the Swinging London and underground scene, where she sold ethnic and retro clothes, cast-off Dior clothes, and Indian embroideries to a hippy clientele. While being interviewed for TV series Talking Heads, she claims that during her time in London, she had a brief sexual encounter with John Lennon. She was involved with the filmmaker Philippe Mora and starred in his film, Passion Play, shot in The Pheasantry, playing Mary Magdalene.

In 2006, she published her autobiography and account of her life in swinging London, A Big Life.

She features in a memoir by Richard Neville, editor of the Australian satirical magazine Oz, and is portrayed by Nina Liu in the unreleased British film of the book, Hippie Hippie Shake. In 1972 she returned to Australia, and opened a fashion boutique, Flamingo Park.