Sure, connoisseurs of groupie style know their Bebe Buells from their Pamela Des Barreses, their Sable Starrs from their Lori Maddoxes. In talking about tenor-setting rock chicks, it’s hard not to slip in a mention of wonderfully witchy Anita Pallenberg. But what about the beauties who time seems to have forgotten? Case in point: Uschi Obermaier, the German model and actress. Possessed of a lush pout and a head of tumbling curls, she famously bedded Jimi Hendrix and both Glimmer Twins (she hit the road with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1975 for the Stones’s Tour of the Americas). What’s more, she was a radical figure in her own right, living on the fringe of Germany’s left-wing students’ movement and residing for a time in Berlin’s infamous Kommune 1, before heading out on a years-long road trip with her late lover Dieter Bockhorn.
After years of walking on the wild side, Obermaier has slipped into relative obscurity, opting for a quiet life designing jewelry from her home in Topanga Canyon—or, relatively quiet, at least: At the age of 60 she posed for German magazine Stern wearing a pirate hat, and nothing else. In honor of her 69th birthday today, we’re revisiting some of Obermaier’s greatest style highs, and how you can channel them now.
