Twiggy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Twiggy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lesley Hornby September 19, 1949 Neasden, London, England |
| Other names | Twiggy Lawson |
| Occupation | Model (person), actress, singer |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Hair colour | Blonde |
| Eye colour | Blue |
| Dress size | UK 12 - US 10 - EU 40 |
| Agency | Models 1 |
| Spouse | Michael Witney (1977 – 1983) Leigh Lawson (1988–present) |
After modelling, Twiggy went on to enjoy a successful career as a screen, stage, and television actress. She has hosted her own series, Twiggy's People, in which she interviewed celebrities, and also appeared as a judge on the reality show America's Next Top Model. Her 1998 autobiography, Twiggy in Black and White, entered the bestseller lists. Since 2005, she has modelled for Marks and Spencer, most recently to promote their recent rebranding, appearing in TV adverts and print media, alongside Myleene Klass, Erin O'Connor, Lily Cole and others.
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Personal life
Twiggy Lawson was brought up in the northwest London suburb of Neasden, the daughter of Helen (Nellie) Lydia Hornby (née Reeman), a factory worker for a printing firm, and William Norman Hornby, a master carpenter and joiner. Twiggy’s mother taught her to sew from a young age, and she used this talent to make her own clothing. She attended the Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in Salusbury Road, Kilburn. Twiggy is the youngest of three sisters. Shirley is 15 years older, and Vivien is seven years older.Twiggy married American actor Michael Witney in 1977. They had one daughter, Carly, born in 1978. That marriage ended with his sudden death in 1983 from a heart attack. Twiggy met her second husband, Leigh Lawson, in 1984. In 1988 they worked on the film Madame Sousatzka, and married that year in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Lawson adopted Twiggy’s daughter, Carly, who took on his surname. The couple resides in London.
In her official site, she describes herself as being an ardent supporter of breast cancer research, animal welfare, and anti-fur campaigns.
Modelling career (1966-1970)
Twiggy is best remembered as one of the first international supermodels and a fashion icon of the 1960s and 70s. Her greatest influence is Jean Shrimpton, whom Twiggy considers to be the world's first supermodel. Twiggy has also been described as the successor to Jean Shrimpton.In January 1966, young Lesley Hornby had her hair colored and cut short in Mayfair at The House of Leonard,owned by celebrity hairdresser Leonard. The hair stylist was looking for models on whom to try out his new crop haircut and he styled her hair in preparation for a few test head shots.A professional photographer Barry Lategan took several photos for Leonard, which the hairdresser hung in his salon. Deidre McSharry, a fashion journalist from the Daily Express, saw the images and asked to meet the young girl. McSharry arranged to have more photos taken. A few weeks later the publication featured an article and images of Hornby, declaring her “The Face of ’66.”In it, the copy read: "The Cockney Kid with a face to launch a thousand shapes ... and she's only 16! - The Daily Express, 23 February 1966.Lesley's career quickly took off.She was 5'6" tall (short for a model), weighed a mere 6½ stone (41 kg, 91 lbs) and had a thin, boyish 31-22-32 figure. Her hairdresser boyfriend, Nigel Davies, became her manager, changed his name to Justin de Villeneuve, and persuaded her to change her name to Twiggy (from “Twigs”, her childhood nickname). De Villeneuve credits himself for Twiggy’s discovery and her modelling success, and his version of events is often quoted in other biographies.Ten years her senior, he managed her lucrative career for seven years, overseeing her finances and enterprises during her heyday as a model.
Twiggy was soon seen in all the leading fashion magazines, commanding fees of £80 an hour, bringing out her own line of clothes called “Twiggy Dresses” in 1967, and taking the fashion world by storm. “I hated what I looked like,” she said once, “so I thought everyone had gone stark raving mad.” Twiggy’s androgynous look centered on three qualities: her stick thin figure, a boyishly short haircut and strikingly dark eyelashes.Describing how she obtained her prominent eyelashes, now known as Twiggys, she said, “Back then I was layering three pairs of false eyelashes over my own and would paint extra ‘twigs’ on my skin underneath.”
One month after the Daily Express article, Twiggy posed for her first shoot for Vogue. A year later, she had appeared in 13 separate fashion shoots in international Vogue editions. Twiggy arrived in New York in March 1967 at JFK airport, an event covered by the press. The New Yorker, Life and Newsweek reported on the Twiggy "phenomenon" in 1967, with the New Yorker devoting nearly 100 pages to the subject."That year she became an international sensation, modeling in France, Japan, and America, and landing the cover of Paris Vogue in May, the cover of US Vogue three times, in April, July and November, and the cover of British Vogue in October. In 1967, an editorial on p. 63 of the March 15 edition of Vogue described her as an "extravaganza that makes the look of the sixties." The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2009 catalogue of Style: Model as Muse Embodying Fashion states that "Twiggy's adolescent physique was the perfect frame for the androgynous styles that began to emerge in the 1960s. The trend was manifested in a number of templates: sweet A-line dresses with collars and neckties, suits and dresses that took their details from military uniforms, or, in the case of Yves Saint Laurent, and explicit transposition of the male tuxedo to women. Simultaneously, under the rubric of 'unisex,' designs that were minimalistic, including Nehru suits and space-agey jumpsuits, were proposed by designers such as Pierre Cardin and Andre Courreges, and, most famously in the U.S.A., by Rudi Gernreich." Twiggy has been photographed by such noted photographers as Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Melvin Sokolsky, Ronald Traeger, Bert Stern, Norman Parkinson, Annie Leibovitz and Steven Meisel.
Twiggy and the magazines featuring her image polarised critics from the start. Her boyishly thin image was criticized as, and is still blamed for, promoting an "unhealthy" body ideal for women."Twiggy came along at a time when teen-age spending power was never greater," said Su Dalgleish, fashion correspondent for the London Daily Mail. "With that underdeveloped, boyish figure, she is an idol to the 14- and 15-year-old kids. She makes virtue of all the terrible things of gawky, miserable, adolescence."At the height of her fame, Mark Cohen, president of Leeds women's shop had an even harsher view: "Her legs remind me of two painted worms." Yet Twiggy had her supporters. Diana Vreeland of Vogue stated, "She's no flash in the pan. She is the mini-girl in the min-era. She's delicious looking." In recent years Twiggy has spoken out against the trend of waif-thin models, explaining that her own thin weight as a teenager was natural: ""I was very skinny, but that was just my natural build. I always ate sensibly – being thin was in my genes."
On 10 December 1969, despite only being 20 years old, she was selected as the special guest for one of the first editions of This Is Your Life.
Stage, film, television and singing career
- 1970–1979
Twiggy embarked on an award-winning acting and singing career, starring in a variety of roles on stage and screen, and recording albums. In 1971, she made her film debut as an extra in Ken Russell's The Devils. The same year, she performed her first leading role in features as Polly Browne in Ken Russell's adaptation of Sandy Wilson's pastiche of 1920s hit musicals The Boy Friend. This marked her initial collaboration with Tommy Tune, and won her two Golden Globe Awards in 1972 (New Star of the Year - Actress and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy). In 1974, she made her West End stage debut in Cinderella, and made a second feature, the thriller W; co-starred with future husband Michael Whitney, and hosted her own British television series, Twiggs (later renamed Twiggy).
In October 1975, she sang at the live performance of Roger Glover's The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast album at the Royal Albert Hall. The concert was filmed and produced by Tony Klinger and released to theaters in 1976.
In November, 1976 she made an appearance on The Muppet Show, in which she sang "In My Life," a Beatles song. In 1976, Twiggy signed to Mercury records and released the albums Twiggy and Please Get My Name Right, discs that contained both pop and country tunes. Twiggy sold very well, peaking on the UK charts at no.33, and gave Twiggy a silver disc for good sales. The album contains Twiggy's top twenty hit single, "Here I Go Again". "Please Get My Name Right" made it to no.35 in 1977.
- 1980–1989
- 1990–1999
- 2000–2009
Also in 2007, Sepia Records released a previously shelved album that Twiggy recorded in 1979, produced by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers. Heaven In My Eyes ["Discotheque"] contains the eight original tracks due to be released, plus four remixes by The Outsider . The album was also made available on iTunes. She is signed to London agency Models 1. In 2008, she supported the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside fellow celebrities — comedian Alan Carr, singer Natalie Imbruglia, actress Anna Friel and DJ & presenter Edith Bowman.
In the Summer of 2009, beauty company Olay debuted its "Definity Eye Cream" campaign depicting Twiggy. Accusations of airbrushing created a stir with the media and public. A website campaign set up by Jo Swinson, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, attracted 700 individual complaints. Procter & Gamble admitted to minor retouching and replaced the image. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that the ad gave a “misleading” impression, but that no further action was required because the image had already been withdrawn. Their announcement said: “However, we considered that the post-production re-touching of this ad, specifically in the eye area, could give consumers a misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve. We considered that the combination of references to ‘younger looking eyes’, including the claim ‘reduces the look of wrinkles and dark circles for brighter, younger looking eyes’, and post-production re-touching of Twiggy’s image around the eye area, was likely to mislead”.
Filmography
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Stage
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Television
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Recordings
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Books and exhibits
- Twiggy: An autobiography, Twiggy (1975) ISBN 978-0246108951
- Twiggy's Guide to Looking Good, Twiggy (1986) ISBN 9780006366720
- Twiggy in Black and White, Twiggy (1998) ISBN 978-0671516451
- London Swings Again With Ossie Clark Show at the V&A: Photograph of Twiggy (2003)
- Twiggy: Please Get My Name Right, Word Power Books, (2004) ISBN #: 9784939102578
- Bill Gibb: Fashion and Fantasy, Iain R Webb and Twiggy (foreword) (2008) ISBN 978-1851775484
- A Guide to Looking and Feeling Fabulous Over Forty, Twiggy (2008) ISBN 978-0718154042
- The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, May-August, 2009
- Twiggy: A Life in Photographs, Terence Pepper, Robin Muir, and Melvin Sokolsky (2009) ISBN 978-1855144149
- Twiggy: A Life in Photographs, National Portrait Gallery, (2009–2010)
