The irony, in Democracy however, is that one of the strongest currents running through it is one the photographer himself is almost too close to admit. The subjects were indeed chosen at random, and they were indeed drawn from all who passed through the studio, and others who asked to be included. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the majority passing through Bailey’s studio is indeed the height of fashion and celebrity. Photographing such people unclad is by no means new. It’s been done, with varying degrees of sophistication, by contemporaries up to and including Bailey’s long term friend, and foil, the late Helmut Newton. But to present the constituent elements of fashion, and celebrity, and the street, truly devoid of their armour: naked, standing before the world, amongst their public, and achieving it with such undoubted style, is indeed staying on the edge. It’s very Bailey. And Bailey it would appear has a few miles of film yet to go.