TALITHA GETTY

Talitha Getty embodied the beautiful, carefree, and romantic spirit of the 60s, and she will forever be one of our all-time style icon.

She may not have been well known by the general public, but her presence in the London scene and abundance of famous friends like Mick Jagger, Diane von Furstenberg, and Yves Saint Laurent made her a muse and icon.

Born on the tiny island of Java to artist parents,Talitha ruled the bohemian cool crowd, rolling with Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, John Paul Getty (who she would marry), and Yves St. Laurent (for whom she served as a muse). With her turbans, caftans, floppy hats, and piled on jewelry. Her stylistic influence lives on, well past her death in 1971.

With husband Paul Getty II.

Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones, Anita Pallenberg and Talitha Getty on LSD in Ireland in 1967. Off the picture, Nicki Brown and John Paul Getty II.

Nureyev was captivated by Talitha from the moment they first met at a party in 1965: ‘Talitha had alabaster-white skin and high cheekbones and eyes much like his own. Although he did not find her particularly intelligent, she was intuitive and sympathetic, and they instantly seemed to recognise something in each other. Nureyev had never felt so erotically stirred by a woman, telling several friends that he wanted to marry Talitha.

Talitha and Paul Getty in Marrakech, 1969 Photography by Patrick Lichfield.

Yves St. Laurent described Talitha’s lifestyle with these words; “I knew the generation of the 60s: Talitha and Paul Getty lying under a roof of stars in Marrakesh, beautiful and damned, and a whole generation assembled as if for eternity where the curtain of the past seemed to rise on an extraordinary future.”. Here, Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakesh, 1969.

Bill Willis, 1967, when he first arrived in Marrakech with Talitha and J. Paul Getty. He restored the Palais du Zahir for the Gettys then began working with Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berge on their house Dar El Hanche.

Vogue, April 1971. Talitha Getty in Berber Wedding Dress, months before her death.