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 Reign of Jane

Along with Pattie Boyd (and Linda and Olivia and...), I would consider Jane Asher to be one of my favorite Beatles' Girls. Scratch that, I would consider her one of my favorite Sixties girls. Period. But what makes Jane so cool isn't the fact that she dated/was engaged to Paul McCartney, but because she was (please don't criticize how bra-burning feminist, girl power-ish this is going to sound...) an independent woman. Even when she was in serious relationships (and, eventually, marriages) she never allowed her life to be dictated by others around her. She chose the roles she wanted in productions she wanted to be involved in, and didn't adapt the social "norms" other people her age conformed to. But she managed to do so without becoming a stubborn or conceited person. She was incredibly mature for her age, but it is still somewhat shocking to know how young she was when she first became very famous in the 60s, at only 17.

In any book/documentary/commentary of any kind about the 60s, Jane is always described as incredibly sophisticated and refined. She was well-educated, well-read, and well-aware of the world around her. Though raised upper class, she was always very gracious and engaging to everyone around her, a trait that is often spoken about in books about this time period (like in Cyn Lennon's "John" and Pattie Boyd's "Wonderful Today/Tonight" depending on where you live).

In the 1960s she was known as a very talented former child actor who was making a name for herself as an adult. Her most famous roles are in the films "Alfie," "Deep End," and 2006's "Death at a Funeral," along with many many roles in British television and theatre. Nowadays, she has added author, cake decorating, and advocate for Autism to her resume.

But, oddly enough, it was her relationship with McCartney that has given her the most longlasting exposure. He wrote many songs about her, ranging from heartfelt odes of affection to angsty embittered ballads. Songs about her include: "All My Loving," "And I Love Her," "You Won't See Me," "I'm Looking Through You," "We Can Work It Out," "Here, There and Everywhere," "Things We Said Today," "For No One," and "Martha, My Dear," all documenting the ups and downs of their five year relationship.

I personally love her smart style from the sixties. Her clothing always looked right on trend, in yet they were timeless and were never gaudy. She favored smaller pieces of delicate jewelry and a minimal color palette in her wardrobe. She stuck mostly to black, white, navy, brown, cream, and red. This gave off a no-fuss look and along with her naturally fire-red hair & fringe and very understated, clean makeup, Jane became known as a 'natural beauty.' There's a great article on That60sgirl.com about Jane's clean, understated look and its definitely worth checking out. I am contemplating doing "The Jane Chronicles" like I have begun posting for Pattie so please let me know if you would be interested in reading more about Jane!

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.

The First Time

So at this point I know no one is reading this, so this doesn't even matter. But I am excited to share my love of film, music, culture, and fashion with anyone who might read this in the future. I love the times of decades past - the 1960s in particular - so that is what I will be turning most of my attention to. If you have any requests for posts or any comments/criticisms, please feel free to message me! I have been working hard to do collages for each of my entries and have been writing long entries because for some reason, I always enjoy reading long entries on other people's blogs. I feel that if I want to convince someone why an actor or a movie is incredible and life-changing, I should tell you more than five or six lines about them. Happy (future) reading!

sooo yeahhh...

So Miguel and I are moving. We just got settled in our apartment but so many things keep happening that show us we shouldn't be here. We have had things stolen, the car has been vandalized TWICE, and we have had to call maintenance for so many things. We are moving into an extremely nice area into a nicer, larger apt. And it's in the area where our church just started a new campus. We are very excited to be apart of that... BUT, we have to move in on the weekend of the 20th... Can we say STRESS.
In other areas of my life: Alejandro was dedicated in church today! It was awesome. But what was even more awesome was that some of my family members who have not been to church in a long time were there. Our family took up 1-1/2 rows! It felt good to have all of my family, generations of my family, in one place at one time.
Speaking of family, I have been struggling with the idea of taking Alejandro to meet my dad... Any advice out there?
I can't wait for my baby's 1st Christmas! Were hosting it at our apt, yes, the new one. Lol. I'm starting to feel so grown up!