The Pattie Chronicles: 1969-1970 Style

Here is what may be the last entry of "the Pattie Chronicles," so I am ending it in style (no pun intended. well, perhaps, maybe that I see it). Here is the last major period of Pattie's style during the sixties, a time I call 'the Sophisticate.'
As Pattie grew older, her style became more mature and she stepped away from the loud ethnic prints of years past. Her wardrobe’s color palette consisted mostly of white, black, grey, cream, navy, and dark red. Instead of Eastern influences, Pattie looked toward the 1920s for inspiration for her style. This is evident in her flapper-esque pincurl & fingerwave hairstyles, dark red lips, thin eyebrows, and liking of beaded details on clothing. Her wardrobe also had romantic Victorian touches, which can be seen in her favorite piece of jewelry during this period – an antique cameo brooch she strung on a black velvet ribbon to make a choker necklace.
The essentials: shearling coat, black felt floppy hat, satin ruched shirt, maxidresses, white pants, black blazers and sweaters, white blazer with piped outlined in navy, high-necked Edwardian-inspired dresses (long sleeves, reached the ankles), long cashmere scarves, strands of pearls or black beads (sometimes a black rosary worn as necklace), white 1920s silk gowns with white feather boas, deep V-neck blouses
Hairstyle: Pattie had grown out her bangs completely at this point, favoring a parted down the middle look. It was during this time she could change her hairdos more because her simple style allowed for experimentation. She would part her hair on the side, down the middle, or not at all by wrapping her mane into a large bun on the top of her head. Pattie also let her hair fall wavy naturally, or curl her hair tightly.

The Pattie Chronicles: 1968 Style

For the early part of 1968, Pattie rocked the “Ashram chic” look. “We just wore very simple outfits,” Pattie said in 2006 about the clothing in India. “The kurta, which is a long skirt, with long pajama trousers. We hardly went out of the ashram because we were too busy meditating, so tailors would be brought in and the same kurta-and-pajama look would be made again and again. I used to send frantic postcards from India to the Beatles’ management, asking them to buy me a pair of shoes or a dress that I’d seen in a magazine because none of these things were within my grasp. I’d suddenly imagine something I wanted, such as a pair of clear plastic high-heeled shoes, or I’d send Ossie Clark a card asking him to make me a silk bikini — ridiculous things like that. Our dress was so simplified, I thought it would be nice to wear a bikini or high heels for a change.”

The Pattie Chronicles: 1967 Style

Pattie rocking Eastern influences and psychedelic styles

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This was where Pattie really had the most fun with her look. During this period, the Beatles and friends were very much interested in Eastern culture – something that was evident in all their wardrobes. Almost every piece in her wardrobe was a multitude of colors or at least a very beautiful, ornate pattern. Her accessories were killer during this time – she had the most beautiful sandals and the greatest stone rings.
The essentials: Flowy minidresses (chiffon, empire waist dresses), bell bottom denim, Indian vests, crocheted piano shawls in light colors, color-tinted sunglasses, large brim floppy hats, knee-high boots and gladiator sandals (in suede), tunic tops, large belts, even shorter miniskirts, tons of accessories (hippie headbands, long strings of beads worn together, shawls and scarves, piles of bracelets and stone rings on multiple fingers), Pattie also wore flowers in her hair occasionally – a very hippie thing to do
Hairstyle: Pattie switched between completely grown out hair and her blunt bangs – both of which looked great with her longer hair. She always parted her hair down the middle and it seems like during this period she lightened her hair from the dark blonde of 1966 to a very light honey color in late 1967.

The Pattie Chronicles: 1965-1966 Style

During this period, Pattie began experimenting with her style more. She grew out her hair and started to grow out of her mod style. George’s rocker look began to rub off on her and Pattie began wearing daring patterns, shorter skirts, and favored more bold colors for her wardrobe.
The essentials: pea coats in white, green, mauve (but more if you choose!), knee-length black velvet coat with a tie at the waist, shift dresses in geometric patterns, knit berets, white bikinis (worn on her honeymoon) and a deep tan (natural, of course), minidresses that had long sleeves and somewhat a boat neck, plaid button down shirts, striped shirts and sweaters, and sandals as opposed to heels
Hairstyle: Pattie, instead of her blunt bangs, wore softer side-swept bangs most of the time. Her hair was longer overall as well – instead of hanging just below her shoulders, it now hung to her shoulder blades (if you were to look from behind. In front, her hair would be about boob length). She also let her hair hang more naturally – instead of doing a flip at the ends, her hair now hung straight, sometimes with a wave overall

The Pattie Chronicles: 1963-1964 Style

Between 1963 and 1964, Pattie had a very “modest mod” type style, meaning she favored the clean lines and simple colors that the mod style offered. This was her innocent “schoolgirl” look (partly to do with her role in “A Hard Day’s Night”) – her look was admired by teenagers, and approved by their mothers.

Pattie in her 'Modest Mod' period

The essentials: skirt suits, pointy kitten heels (in black), sleeveless sheath dresses, babydoll dresses, patterned tights, Oxford buttondowns with schoolgirl ties, knee-socks, simple color-coordinated jewelry, fur-trimmed wool coats
Hairstyle: shoulder length/ little below the shoulder in cut, Pattie’s hair was stick straight with the exception of a flip at the ends. Pattie also had blunt bangs and backcombed at the crown of her hair, sometimes wearing a headband that matched her jewelry

The Pattie Chronicles: The Style

Some of my favorite Pattie looks

Throughout most of the sixties, Pattie Boyd was a fashion icon. Her sense of style evolved throughout the decade from her modest skirt suits of the early ‘60s, to her transition from Mod Goddess (or Moddess, if you will) to a happy hippie in the mid-‘60s, ending the decade with a mature, more subdued sense of style that she would carry for the rest of her life. She became muse to legendary designer Ossie Clark and partied with Mary Quant. Not too many other models (or people at all) can lay claim to this. Pattie wore miniskirts (the ‘60s definition of mini – about three inches above the knee) and said that the color of choice for a cocktail dress would be white or pink – knocking the theory of the Little Black Dress’s essentialness for a loop. With evening dresses, Pattie liked to pair her designer gowns with a second-hand black velvet jacket, a high-low combination that would become so popular in the next few years.

Pattie was proud that she never purchased much expensive clothing, instead buying a lot of vintage (her favorite being Edwardian). Though not all of us are international supermodels and are gifted tons of designer clothing, so when it comes to dressing like Pattie, us common people may have to lay out a pretty penny or two. But take the advice from Pattie – the best place to start your wardrobe is in a vintage store. Not only is it usually less outrageously priced than the clothing found in department stores, but there is something quite appealing to buying vintage clothing and pondering what fabulous event from decades past your item was worn to. Perhaps your silver floor-length gown danced with Frank Sinatra in Vegas or your newly acquired Halston Grecian gown partied at Studio 54 with Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol. At vintage stores, you can find not only Victorian pieces like Pattie loved, but clothing from the 1960s is quite commonplace in most good vintage stores. And if the heavens are on your side, you might even find an Ossie Clark original that Ms. Boyd wore of her own!

Emulating Pattie Boyd’s wardrobe is so much fun because how you go about it depends on your personality. Pattie went through five major style periods during the sixties, and, depending on which one you want to follow, you can interject much of your own personality into it. But whether you decide to follow one of Pattie’s 60s fashion periods or alternate between the five, you will always be well-dressed. And whatever you decide, you won’t be alone in your decision. Sixties supermodel Twiggy confessed that she modeled herself after Ms. Boyd’s early sweet Mod-ish taste in clothing and makeup when the Twig was first establishing a career for herself – and just look at how well that turned out!

The Pattie Chronicles: The Hair

Pattie told 16 Magazine in October 1965 that a girl’s shining glory “truly is her hair” and that “it is very important to pay extra attention” to one’s hair-do, telling the mag she washed her hair daily, drying it in a clean linen towel. Pattie also recommended shampoo with olive oil added because it moisturizes most normal hair. Despite this, she admittedly told a magazine the next year that she hardly ever goes to the hairdresser. “I haven’t been to one in ages. I can’t bear sitting under the drier. I wash my hair myself every five days – the fringe more often, and sometimes I give my hair a dry shampoo between washes. If I think the ends need cutting, then I just get whoever is at home to chop them off – George, my sister, anybody.”

Back in 1965 and before, Pattie worked the ‘flipped-out’ look at the ends of her hair. To achieve this style, “Just before my hair is completely dry, I give it a good brushing with a natural bristle brush… When my hair is gleaming (still dampish), I take about eight big round rollers and carefully roll up the ends. I curl them over about three times. You have to use more or less turns, depending on how much natural curl there is in your hair. When my hair is dry, I remove the rollers. Then I lift the hair at the top of my head and back-comb or brush it until there is enough teased up to give me a little "crown". Next, I comb over the teasing gently until the crown looks smooth and neat. Now I comb my bangs down over my eyebrows and, holding them lightly, flicking the ends up so that I get a curved line (which is very flattering to the eyes). Finally, I carefully comb the sides and ends, also flicking the bottoms up all the way around. The final move is to spray my hair thoroughly with a good, light hair spray. This holds it in place without getting it all gooey.”

To backcomb her hair, Pattie travelled with a long comb with fine teeth (AKA – a ducktail comb) and a bristle brush (try to buy a natural bristle brush if possible – it makes for healthier hair).

The Pattie Chronicles: The Makeup

Pattie has long been admired for the way she applied makeup. The main principle in recreating Pattie’s look for yourself is to stick with dark eyes and pale lips. This mantra works for just about any other sixties bird, from Brigitte Bardot to Cyn Lennon, simply because this look works for everyone. Never do dark eyes and dark lips or pale eyes and lips at the same time – it looks very off when it is done. Unlike many other sixties girls, who flamboyantly applied a color wheel of hues on their faces, Pattie was a bit more modest in terms of makeup application. She stuck to the essentials when it came to makeup: black/brown liquid eyeliner, brown eye shadow, blue-grey eye shadow, black/brown mascara, pale foundation cream, pale pink lip gloss, and pink blush. The perfume she used for years (and is said to still use) is Jicky by Guerlain. “It’s got a lovely musty scent without being too sweet,” Pattie once said about her signature scent. It was also the favorite fragrance of Brigitte Bardot, the object of the Fab Four’s affections for years (hmm… I’ve got to get myself a bottle of this stuff…)
The main emphasis in creating a truly modern look was the eyes. As Pattie herself said, the eyes are the most important feature of your face. So rightfully, you should dedicate most of you makeup attention to them. Don’t be worried if you are taking a lot of time doing your eye makeup – that’s how it’s supposed to be! It simply wouldn’t look as good if it could be done in a rush. “Eye makeup is essential,” Ms. Boyd told US Vogue in October 1969, “especially as I have very fair lashes. I like to make my eyes the most important feature. Depending on whether I have a tan, or my mood, or what-color clothes I am wearing, I wear whatever-color eye shadow accordingly, and put the same color but a darker shade on the crease of the eyelid. So I might use pale green with green-black shadow, and for a more startling effect, middle-green poster paint. Blue-green is a good color with deep lilac shadow, browns as well. I also use blue mascara. I think the naked look is fantastic if one is very suntanned, but if not, it can look most uncared for.”
To make her eyes look bigger, Pattie revealed in May 1965 that she “put on several coats of mascara, but before I do this I draw a line in black eyebrow pencil across my eyelids at the roots of my eyelashes. I don’t curl it up at the end like most girls do. I extend it slightly out and downward” because she believed it contoured her face and made her eyes appear rounder. After this, apply your eye shadow. Pattie advised keeping a palette of eye shadow colors on hand in order to match to your clothing and coloring. “I keep brown and blue-grey [shadows]…always,” she told 16 Magazine in September, 1965. To apply shadow use a brush, “imagine a line straight from where the inside of your eyebrow starts to just above the inside corner of your eye. Start to gently brush on eye shadow from that point, arching the line slightly upwards and keeping it just above the first crease in your eyelid. When you reach the peak spot in the middle, start sloping downwards, stopping the eye-shadow just above the end of your eye line. This makes your eyes look very exciting!” Pattie also applied her mascara to her lower lashes, but told girls to do this only if it looked good on them. “If it suits you, do it,” she said, “if not, skip it.” Although not necessary, false eyelashes can be used to make one’s eyes seem larger. Pattie used them rarely, never as much as Twiggy, but this was because she was born with great lashes herself and rarely felt the need. But, if you are looking to buy Pattie-worthy lashes, look for thick lashes as opposed to longer lashes. Falsies, as they are often called, can be found in just about any drugstore or makeup store out there.
On her lips, Pattie used a dab of foundation cream to take the color out of them. She tended to not used lipstick, but would sometimes put a topcoat or gloss over the foundation so that her lips didn’t look dried out. Though not all of us were blessed with a naturally full, borderline-Bardot mouth like Pattie was, we can fake it. Using a lip plumping gloss or applying a pale gloss a little outside of your lip lines can give the illusion of a fuller pout.
Very self-conscious of her rounded face shape, Pattie used a large rouging brush to “elongate” her cheekbones. “I lightly twirl” the brush “in blush rouge and then gently dust some along each check just above the jawbone. This gives the illusion of a thinner, better-shaped face.”

Pattie was well-aware that in order to have good skin, “you just may have to make a few sacrifices” by cutting out junk foods and following a thorough skincare regimen. “First off,” she declared in the November 1965 issue of 16 Magazine, “you all know that cleanliness if a prime requisite when it comes to having a pretty face,” advocating twice daily washings and moisturizing. Pattie also advised applying makeup in the correct light, so it comes out looking as natural as possible.

The Pattie Chronicles: Modeling, the 'Mod Bod,' and Photography

In the sixties, there was an ideal for a model – and Pattie certainly fit that mold beautifully. Despite certain photographers hesitancy to hire a model “who looked like a rabbit,” others quickly took to Pattie’s look – she was thin, blonde, and beautiful (the norm at that time) but her gap-toothed smile made her unique in a sea of blonde models. She attended a modeling school in order to improve her technique, and got herself a good agent in order to sell her ‘look.’

Obviously, her ‘look’ worked. Her thin appearance from her modeling days has long been admired – she was one of the original waif models. In 1965, she said “I’m five feet seven inches tall, I weigh 105 pounds, have blue eyes, and am what they call and pink and white blonde.” She became wildly successful, booking editorials and commercials all over London. She became an inspiration to many designers, but none more so than Ossie Clark. Her tiny, almost little girl frame, mane of pale gold hair, and childlike features were what Clark himself loved. In the 70s, she modeled for him in campaigns and worked Clark’s runway show at Chelsea Town Hall – a show that went down in fashion history as one of the most influential, most creative runway shows ever. She, along with Amanda Lear and Marianne Faithfull, modeled the floor-length floaty dresses Clark had made alongside partner Celia Birtwell. Pattie Boyd was also on the cover of “The Birds of Britain,” a book about the most fascinating dollies in England. In the intro to “Birds,” the writer alludes to Pattie’s “swirl of miniskirt, beneath which limbs flicker like jackknives and glimmer like trout.” Quite a description, no? But despite her popularity, Pattie just didn’t understand it. “I’ve never thought of myself as good-looking,” Pattie admitted in 2006. “I always thought, ‘How amazing I’ve gotten away with it [modeling].’”

Even so, Pattie understood the importance of keeping a slim frame in order to keep booking jobs. In 1965 she said, “A successful model has just got to be strict with herself and lay off all fattening foods. That means no bread, butter, spaghetti or sweets…. Watch out for ‘puppy-fat spread’…. Eat proper meals at regular times with lots of lean meat and green vegetables.” So no matter how enjoyable certain things were for her, Pattie understood restraint and made sure not to indulge every dietary whim. She admitted in her autobiography that she constantly took dangerous diet pills throughout the 1960s as a way to curb her appetite. For a period of time, she blamed the pills for leaving her infertile.

Besides the painstaking measures she took to keep her model body (or “Mod Bod,” if you will), Pattie also grew tired of the “demeaning” nature of modeling. Sure, she loved posing in front of the camera, but found “trotting around the studios trying to persuade photographers” to use her was quite tiring. She continued, “There were no makeup artists or hairdressers unless you were working for one of the big magazines. You’d have to take your own accessories, make-up and hairpieces” to shoots.

Toward the end of her career as a model, Pattie found her passion for photography – which up ‘till then had been only a hobby – growing. “I wanted to be on the other side of the camera.” In addition to photographing landscapes, portraits, still-life, Pattie also “learnt how to print, too, because then you are in control from the minute you take the picture to the end result. It’s so different from the lack of control that you have as a model.” Though technically a photographer since the early sixities, she didn’t start doing it professionally until the 1980s. “After my divorce from Eric,” she said, “I realized I had something I could do for myself as a career. I started working for magazines and then friends began asking me to do their portraits, or photograph their children; things just snowballed.” She compared her careers as a model and photographer, concluding, “These days, I’m much happier behind the camera.”

Nowadays, Pattie “keeps in shape by doing Pilates twice a week and power-walking” she told UK’s Telegraph in 2005. “I’d say I’m quite happy with the way I look…There are times when I look in the mirror and think I’d love to have a tweak here and there, but lines show that you have had an enjoyable life. I tried Botox once, but the pain was absolutely excruciating. I’m not tempted to try it again.” Despite those few insecurities, obviously people agree with Ms. Boyd that she is still very beautiful. In 2005, she returned to modeling after a self-imposed retirement for several decades to become the spokesmodel for Viyella’s winter campaign.

The Pattie Chronicles: Relationships and Muse-ing

As legend has it, immediately after George Harrison met Pattie Boyd on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night,” he asked her to marry him. Surely intended as a joke, George’s proposal would be a precursor of the events to come. While still on the set, he asked her to go out with him, and although she liked him and wanted to go, Pattie had a boyfriend so she declined. But by the next time she saw George, Pattie had broken up with her boyfriend and was hoping George would ask her out again. At a press event, he asked her how her boyfriend was and she told them they had broken up. George asked her out again. Though it took some persuasion, Pattie agreed to go out with him, and within a month, he had bought a place for them to share.

By January 1966, Pattie and George married, but not first without Brian Epstein’s permission. Epstein, worried that another married Beatle would upset fans, did not allow for a proper wedding, instead forcing the couple to wed in a registry office. Married life with George suited her perfectly – apart from the fact he didn’t want her modeling anymore, Pattie was more than contented enough to cook, clean, and hope to start a family with her husband. But when children never came for her, she began to get worried. George had apparently always run around with girls on the side, but Pattie hoped that once they had children, he would stop this behavior. Despite George’s constant philandering, Pattie’s competition in the end wasn’t another woman; it was George’s growing interest in religion. After a year or two into their marriage and children hadn’t come, Pattie began to focus her energies elsewhere, becoming somewhat interested in Eastern meditation. Her suggestion for George and the rest of the Beatles to get involved would eventually be what drove this couple apart.

After returning from the visit to India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968, George began to become more and more involved in meditation and religion. He was searching to find himself, fill some void he felt within, but in the process eliminated people from his life. He was no longer interested in going out to clubs or parties, he only wanted to study and meditate. A violent swing from the life she had grown accustomed to, Pattie didn’t know how to react to the person her husband was becoming. George lost interest in sex, becoming emotionally unattached to her, and even stopped speaking to her much for a period of time. “If you talked to him you didn’t know whether you would get an answer in the middle of his chanting or whether he would bite your head off,” Pattie wrote in her autobiography. Hiding himself away in his 25-bedroom mansion, George ignored his wife, instead surrounding himself with alcohol, drugs and like-minded musicians, one of which was Eric Clapton.

When Eric met Pattie, it was love at first sight for him (for Pattie, while she was strongly attracted, she deeply and irrevocably loved her husband). He was quite good friends with George at that time, and believing their marriage to be a happy one, did not make any moves on Pattie. But as he quickly learned about George’s cheating (including sleeping with friend’s wives – most notably Maureen Starr) and Pattie’s growing unhappiness, Eric seized his moment. He began writing her passionate letters, begging her to leave George for him. One such letter said, “For nothing more than the pleasures past I would sacrifice my family, my god, and my own existence, and still you will not move.” But when she still refused to leave her husband, Eric went on a heroin binge to let her know how dangerous life without her would be for him. Amidst his obsession with her and George’s total indifference came Clapton’s ode to Pattie, “Layla,” the ultimate song of unrequited love. This, along with her realization that her marriage with George was almost beyond repair, led Pattie to finally give up on her marriage. And despite his plea for her to not leave him, Pattie left George and joined Clapton on tour in America.

Flash forward several years of drinking, drugs, and addiction, Pattie is now stuck in a relationship with a full-blown addict who shows no attempt to stay faithful to her. Clapton later admitted in his own autobiography that once he had “got” Pattie, he was no longer interested in her. Likened to his desire to buy a car as nice as George’s, he wanted to prove to himself that he was good enough to snag George Harrison’s wife. Pattie acknowledges this herself, saying, “It was as though the excitement had been in the chase.” Characteristic of her personality, Pattie put Eric’s best interests before her own when she tried getting him help for his alcohol addiction. This brought their relationship to almost a crashing halt. Eric felt this as almost a betrayal, but for Pattie it was her last hope. She couldn’t just give up on the relationship that ended her eleven years of marriage to George. Her growing understanding of addiction led Pattie to come to the conclusion that for her, “being in love with [Eric] was like a kind of addiction.” Like Eric’s alcoholism, he just wasn’t something she could just let go. The final straw in their relationship was when Pattie learned that Eric was having a child by another woman. This was a crushing blow to a woman who wanted nothing more than to be a mother and had felt like a failure when she couldn’t become pregnant by either of her two husbands.

Even though Pattie endured two tumultuous marriages that nearly destroyed her, her legacy will live on through the beautiful odes her husbands wrote for her. From Harrison came “I Need You,” “If I Needed Someone,” I Want to Tell You,” “It’s All Too Much,” “So Sad,” “Old Brown Shoe,” “For You Blue,” and reportedly “Something” (though later denied by George, but personally I think that was because he felt sort of awkward talking about a song he wrote about Pattie when he was very happily married to Olivia). From Clapton came “Wonderful Tonight,” “Keep On Growing,” “Anyday,” “I Am Yours,” “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?” “Bell Bottom Blues,” and most famously, “Layla” (Though it could be said that the entire 1974 album “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” was written for Boyd). Pattie will go down as one of the most influential muses in Rock and Roll history. “If anybody ever wonders what a muse is,” asserts Ken Dashow in the A&E Biography of the Beatles’ Women, “it was Pattie Boyd Harrison Clapton. Everyone said she would just walk in a room and everything would stop and every man would just be focused on her energy. And that’s the best definition of a muse I’ve ever heard.” Up until his death in 2001, George and Pattie maintained a good friendship. She considers George to be the love of her life, often telling “I just loved him so much, we were soul mates.” Her relationship with Eric is much more strained; they have almost no contact at all.

The Pattie Chronicles: The Demeanor

Pattie has been accused of neoteny, a trait of retaining juvenile features after you’ve grown up. With her large doe eyes and childlike gap-toothed smile, it’s safe to say Pattie looked through the world with naïve rose-colored glasses. She didn’t feel the need to expose skin or be loud to garner someone’s attention. Batting her lashes and grinning largely, there was a definite innocence in the way Pattie presented herself, and her pureness added to her charm. The best example of this is in Pattie’s film debut, “A Hard Day’s Night,” where she played a schoolgirl. If you study the way she hangs on every word the boys sing on the train and the way she widens her eyes and pouts her bottom lip slightly, you’ll begin to understand the Boyd Behavior. She never could stay mad or lay blame on anyone, a trait that won over even her most ardent non-supporters. Even after receiving a letter from a girl who admittedly intended her letter to be a nasty one because Pattie had ‘stolen’ George away, the girl changed her feelings and said she liked Pattie after thinking about it. Pattie, in response, wrote, “Well I like you because you like George, and I’m glad you didn’t write me that nasty letter. After all, people who do these things only make themselves unhappy in the end, and you don't sound at all like an unhappy person. Rather a nice person, in fact!”

In a May 1965 magazine, Pattie described herself as “independent by nature,” saying, “I hate relying on others. You wont believe this, but I don’t mind making my own travel arrangements and seeing to packing and things. Most girls hate finding out what time they’re due at the airport or train station, but not I.” Pattie was also pretty outgoing when it came to certain things, saying “the only time I’m inclined to take [stage] fright is when I have to talk to people outside my age group and circle of friends who won’t help me to make conversation! This is the oldest problem that we all have – making chat to strangers.” Pattie also disproved her party-girl reputation when, in 1967, she admitted “I’m not very keen on parties. I always used to imagine that I’d be meeting interesting people but I know now I usually won’t. I’m lucky enough to know one or two interesting people now, so I’m very happy.”

Pattie, who not only was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, but had a rumored affair with Ronnie Wood, and was the object of affection for both John Lennon and Mick Jagger was, safe to say, appealing to the boys. In a 1965 magazine, she offered some of her flirting advice. “The great thing about getting boys interested in you is to make them think that you’re interested in them. So ask them lots of questions about their school or college or home or hobbies, and you’ll find yourself getting on like a house on fire!”

The Pattie Chronicles: The Beginning

Over the next few entries, I will be doing a series on my #1 style icon Pattie Boyd. Covering almost every aspect of her life, I will be doing entries about her career, marriages, makeup & hair, and her enviable '60s wardrobe. I hope that they will inspire you to look towards Ms. Boyd because I think that she is truly as fabulous as her sense of style! Now, the beginning of "The Pattie Chronicles"...Have you stumbled across this page one way or another and are wondering who this Pattie Boyd is? Curious as to why the wife of two rock legends deserves such admirations from so many people over four decades? Well continue reading, my friend, because I will tell you.
Possessing a certain je n’ai se quoi, Pattie Boyd, dubbed the “most envied, most beautiful flower child of the 1960s,” has captivated the hearts and minds of many over the years. 16 Magazine once described her as a “today’s girl. She is the girl most girls want to look like. She is the beguiling, old-young mixture that most of today’s girls are – sweet and swinging, shy and sophisticated. And her big china-blue eyes, beneath a fine flaxen fringe, reflect today’s outlook – a ‘hip’ innocence.” People have deconstructed her outfits (whether they be ones she wore to premieres or the market), analyzed her voice inflection in her only line, “Prisoners?” from Hard Day’s Night, and mimicked the golden blonde hair and toothy naïve grin that made her the It-Girl of the 1960s.
But what is it about Pattie that made so many girls want to be her and so many more boys want to be with her? One Brit article about Boyd wrote that back in her heyday, “Legions of girls would have killed to swap places with her, an elegantly starved size eight who had two monumental rock stars fighting to be with her.” What, you ask, makes her different from any number of sixties dolly-birds or rock star waves? Despite her supermodel looks, cornflower-blue eyes, and inequitably long legs, Pattie had an accessibility that made others want to be around her all the time. She was the femme fatale with a childlike girl-next-door demeanor, not concerned with her own beauty; she loved to please and only desired for the love she gave to be reciprocated. She had a great respect for her friends and family, often putting the interests of others before her own. She carried herself with a quiet grace, and in a world full of conceited people, not an ounce of arrogance could be detected from Ms. Boyd.
You might be wondering what is inspirational about Pattie – sure she was a kind-hearted kid with a pretty face and great sense of style, but what warrants us to look up to her? I’ll tell you: Pattie, unlike the ugly misconceptions some dummies have about her, was not a groupie. Sure, she loved music, and based on her relationships, you could draw the ‘groupie’ conclusion, but this is far from the truth. When she met George, Pattie was already a successful model in England. After she met George, her career took off – some people conclude that it was because of her association with the most famous group in the world that she became popular, but I beg to differ. Certainly, her new friends helped give her exposure, but she was a rising model in London even before she met them. She did not “ride the coattails of the Beatles all the way to the top,” (which I actually read somewhere) but was slated to become an important model even with the Beatles. Her relationship with George simply coincided with her inevitable popularity. And she did not marry George for his money or to be close to the whole ‘scene.’ Modeling gave her an income of her own and it was something she loved to do, so even if she had never met George, she would have been financially set. Also, she was working with some of the industries most important photographers, models, musicians, designers, etc. so she was part of that ‘scene’ even without George. Some could even say she was more in that scene than he was.
Also, what many people don’t know about Ms. Boyd was that she came from an abusive childhood. After spending much of her childhood in Kenya, her mother moved Pattie and her siblings back to England and married the man that would become Pattie’s stepfather, a man often described as cruel and abusive. The fact that Pattie could rise from this family and create a name for herself as one of the most successful models of the sixties is quite incredible, but it is also so heartbreaking that the abusive relationship she had with her stepfather underscored the romantic relationships she would have in the future – particularly with her two husbands. She would spend the majority of her life loving men and only wanting her love returned. But their cold and often distant behavior caused her to always be seeking after their affection, and always coming up short.