Pattie Boyd was one of the top models in Britain during the "Swinging London" era of the mid-1960s. Fashion and beauty trends coming out of London then were as relevant as the rock and roll music that British bands - especially the Beatles - were recording at the time.
So it seems more than appropriate the the first rock star-fashion model marriage ever would involve Pattie Boyd and George Harrison.
Pattie and George would eventually split, and she would eventually marry his best friend Eric Clapton - though they too have since split, of course. She would remain friends with both of them afterwards. But she had been the muse for many well-known Beatles songs written by George Harrison - "Something" and "For You Blue," for example - as well as many songs composed by Clapton, such as "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight." (The latter song was inspired by the frustration Clapton experienced while waiting patiently for Pattie to get ready to go out with him and having to re-assure her that she looked fine prior to their departure.)
Since Pattie's marriages to Harrison and Clapton, rock star-fashion model pairings have become commonplace. In the eighties, the trend got a little ridiculous when everyone in Duran Duran seemed to marry a model. As for these pairings, some have gone . . . and, as Patti Hansen's marriage to Keith Richards shows, some remain. But Pattie Boyd's two marriages are still the gold standard of such pairings, if only because of the songs they inspired. :-)
And she never lost her appeal. This is a picture of Pattie Boyd in 2008 that I - yes, I - snapped at a Beatles convention, when she was 64. Beatles fans likely were, and likely still are, still sending her valentines, which she probably keeps on her mantle as she knits sweaters by the fireside. (I know Paul McCartney wrote that song, but what the heck!)
Fun fact: Pattie's sister Jenny is also a famous model. She inspired Donovan's song "Jennifer Juniper," and she was once married to Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood.
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