My Mom, the Style Icon: Michelle Phillips

My mom, Michelle Phillips, is famous for being the "California Dreamin' " flower child of The Mamas and the Papas, but she wasn't always a hippie. She was raised in a fairly conservative family, and her life changed dramatically when at age 16 she met John Phillips (my future father) at a club in San Francisco where he was performing, fell in love, joined his band and was plunged into the '60s rock-and-roll and countercultural scene. The era's ethos—creativity, self-discovery, revelliousness and curiosity—became hers as well. Music was her main mode of self-expression, but fashion followed suit, and she traded the tennis shoes and blue jeans of her teenage years for the sophisticated bohemian style captured in this photo, where she balances a free-spirited wrap dress with an elegant blazer and updo. Mom's floral prints and flowy tops are all stored away now (these days, her standard outfit is fitted jeans, cute blouse and trim black blazer), but I know that no matter what she wears, it will always reflect who she is and what she stands for. —Chynna Phillips, 44, actress and singer-songwriter, Santa Barbara, CA