Woah, mama. I am constantly mesmerised by the staggering beauty that is Michelle Phillips from 60's quartet The Mamas and the Papas. Not to rhapsodise but... her beauty seems eternal, as though her face could be the pinnacle of perfection for any period in history. I can see her as a sphinx-like Egyptian empress; or a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of a 16th century monarchy, all bursting corsets and bejewelled hair-net crowns. Instead she belonged to the mid 1960's, the time of flower power freedom, when women started moving away from heavy dollybird make-up to all things naturally beautiful, and Michelle had natural beauty in spades. Legend has it that John Phillips met Michelle when he was on tour with his band The Journeymen and divorced his then-wife quick-smart in order to snap up 18-year-old Michelle for marriage. Together with Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, Michelle and John went on to become world famous for their somewhat unlikely musical foursome. Supposedly, the Phillips' marriage was rife with affairs (allegedly mainly on her side..) and the union only lasted until 1970, but John continued to write music for his former bride following their divorce. After her relationship with John was over, it has been said that Michelle went on to have love affairs with a whole string of male celebrities including Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper. Who can blame the girl for wanting to share the love around? While she was singing California Dreaming everyone was dreaming of her. images via child of the moon, film noir photos, hypno clothing, mirror, extreme skins, novaks blog, corbis
