J.B. Taylor: Chanel-ling Anita?

Once again I think I have figured out Karl's secret muse! This time, as I was looking at photos of his most recent CHANEL Resort collection (for 2009), featuring models with longish, flaxen, pageboy bobs, I kept being reminded of the fabulous German model/personality/rock 'n roll muse, Anita Pallenberg.
See for yourself . . .

And if you're not familiar with Anita Pallenberg, then let me spin a little glittery yarn, and you'll understand why she is hailed as one of rock 'n roll's most revered muses . . . Anita is from a lineage orich and eccentric Swiss and German artists, including famed neoclassic painter, Arnold Bocklin. She grew up in Rome, where she learned how to speak 4 languages fluently, and by the time she was 21, she had not only studied art restoration, graphic design, and medicine, but had become a cast member with the legendary Living Theatre. In the early 1960s, she became a top model, after being discovered whilst working as an assistant to a Vogue photographer. In 1965, she became an avant-garde German film star, and her role in A Degree of Murder, led to a Best Young Actress nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. Director Roger Vadim saw Anita's performance and offered her the role of the evil Black Queen in his campy 1968 sci-fi romp, Barbarella, playing opposite Jane Fonda.

But what Anita is most known for, is that of mystical muse to not one, but 3 members of the Rolling Stones. She first fell in love with the Stone's founder and original lead-guitarist, Brian Jones (a rock-style icon in his own right), but after two years with Anita, he fell deeply into drug addiction, and became physically abusive. So, while on holiday in Morocco, Anita cried on Keith Richards' shoulder about Brian, which began a tumultuous 12 year love affair, which spawned three children. It was also rumored that in 1970, during the filming of Performance, Anita had an affair with the beau of her best friend, Marianne Faithfull, who happened to be Mick Jagger (a rumor Anita firmly denies). She gets further "legend points" for considering the classic Stones songs, You Got the Silver and Angie, were both written for her.

From Wikipedia: "Pallenberg's influence over the development and presentation of the Rolling Stones from the late sixties throughout the seventies was significant and has been documented in many publications on the band during this period and afterwards. She played an unusual role in the male dominated world of rock and roll in the late sixties, acting as much more than just a groupie or wife of a band member. She was indeed, often referred to as "The Sixth Stone". There are published anecdotes that her opinion was so respected by Mick Jagger that tracks on Beggars Banquet were brought back into the studio and remixed when Pallenberg found them wanting, just weeks before the official release date. Pallenberg is credited as singing background vocals on Sympathy for the Devil. Besides her influence over the Stones' musical content, her interest in the occult was a featured style component that marked the Stones concerts and public presentation throughout the decade that she was the common-law companion of Richards.

Although she was the mother of Richards' children and ruler of the household in a domestic sense, she shared many of her husband's vices and was in fact charged first in the 1977 heroin arrest that almost destroyed the Rolling Stones. The relationship between Richards and Pallenberg waned after Richards cleaned up under threat of imprisonment and he stated in a 1981 Rolling Stone interview that his lawyers told the couple to separate, or they would end up in serious trouble. Richards also stated that he still loved Anita and saw her as much as he ever did, despite his budding devotion to future wife Patti Hansen. Nevertheless, Richards continued to welcome Pallenberg to family events and concert tours, where she often accompanies her children and grandchildren and reportedly is close friends with Patti Hansen. Singer Marianne Faithfull was also Jagger's girlfriend during late 1960s, and remains a great friend of Pallenberg's. They appeared together in the series Absolutely Fabulous, with Marianne Faithfull playing "God" and Anita Pallenberg "The Devil" in a dream sequence."

Anita is an eternal goddess of mystifying coolness, and along with hanging out with Kate Moss (who considers Anita her mentor), she is still acting, most recently as the Queen of England in Harmony Korine's new film, Mister Lonely. She is also still playing muse to groundbreaking fashion designers, such as Anna Sui, and if my hunch is right, Karl Lagerfeld ; )

Photos: minimadmod60s (on MSN), New York Mag, Chanel