I’ve been reading through all the issues of the 1973 groupie-themed publication Star Magazine (infinite thanks to the divine creature who runs http://www.star1973.com/for sharing their wealth of groupieness!), and keep finding myself time and again being caught by the loveliness of Karen Umphrey, a model favorite of the magazine. I’ve seen several photos of her around before, all big doe eyes and her curly platinum hair forming a halo around her, and always absolutely killer glam rock girl outfits. Even though she wasn’t a groupie per se, she was definitely part of the milieu of baby groupies that ruled the Sunset Strip in the early 70s. There are photos of her quite literally kicking up her heels while surrounded by the likes of Lori, Sable and Queenie, but it seems that Karen was simply friends with them and didn’t indulge in their groupie antics. Not much about her life beyond her time at a teen model is readily found, but for a while she dominated the pages of Star, Teen and other glammy youngster mags. Karen was a covergirl on the third and fifth (and final) issues of Star. In the latter edition, she was one of several Star It Girls including Lori Maddox (listed as ‘Laurie Mattix’ – I’ll never understand why there are so many variations of her name out there!) and Shray Mecham to offer beauty and style advice in the section “Beauty and the Fox.” When asked by a reader how she puts together her signature look, she offers delightfully sweet and fun advice:
“I call this month’s cover outfit [lower left corner of the above collage] my super spacey look! I used makeup that compliments the gold lame jacket I have (from Hollywood’s Granny Takes A Trip Boutique). The jacket shines with sparkly dazzling light so I wear makeup that reflects it and makes my face glow. But the real excitement of this look comes from co-ordinating my makeup with my outfit. Blonde hair, of course, looks especially foxy with silver or gold. My hair is naturally light and always kinky after I wash it. So I brush it out with a blow dryer, then pincurl it. As far as makeup goes, I use a bronzish-beige sheen gel foundation and apply a beige-pink blusher below my cheekbones to highlight them. Then I apply bronze-maroon lipstick which sort of accents my foundation color. As for my eyes I don’t wear any mascara with this outfit because black or dark harsh lines destroy that shiny soft effect. I just apply silvery-blue shadow on my lids and let it radiate from the corner of my eyes to my eyebrows for a spacey, bizarre look. Then I smudge a smidgen of eyeshadow under my bottom lashes to bring out my baby blues. For a real touch of makeup fun, I’ll put a silver star beauty mark on my cheek (like a 40’s strumpet)! The lame jacket has a gemmed pin on the lapel just to throw some more razzle-dazzle into it, and I love to wear silver rings and a hand-crafted gold lion head belt that fastens low on my hips. To top it off, a multi-colored hand-crocheted micro-mini. Just to make the outfit casual instead of ritzy vogue formal, I sling a striped Indian scarf around my neck, and let it all hang loose!”
I know that her quote was lengthy, but I had to include all of it. It’s so absolutely darling and obviously her outfit is kind of incredible so in-depth style advice is always appreciated. And she uses words like ‘foxy’ and ‘strumpet’! How wonderful is that?! She’s totally the kind of girl I would’ve been obsessed with if I was a young teen in the early 1970s. Actually, if I’m being honest, I still really super dig her and I’m twenty-two in the 21^st century.

Title: from "She's A Rainbow" (The Rolling Stones)