"The Elongated Matchstick"
"She had the body of a starvation victim and the face of an angel" is a very accurate statement for 1960’s model Twiggy. The petite model began her career at 14, weighing a meagre 91 pounds with no breasts and bony shoulders. She appeared alongside the sexual revolution and became an instant icon –a symbol for a new kind of woman with a streamlined, androgynous sex appeal. Twiggy was the embodiment of a different way of looking and dressing, and the different way of living that went with it.
Born Lesley Hornby on September 19th 1949 in the North of London, Twiggy was part of a middle class family and had a normal childhood during the 1950’s. At school she endured endless taunts about her slight frame, which earned her such names as "Sticks" and "Twigs". Twiggy dropped out of high school and sooner after got her first job as an assistant in a hair salon where she met Nigel Davies, the brother of her co-worker. They began seeing each other, much to the disapproval of her parents as he was 10 years her senior.
Davies was convinced that she had the looks to be a model and organised a photoshoot with a photographer friend. It was the photographer, Barry Lategan, who dubbed the young girl "Twiggy", whilst Davies took up the highfalutin French name of Justin de Villeneuve. Twiggy was seen as the anti-woman and an icon for women wanting to break out of the housewife stereotype. Stereotypical housewives wore covering, conservative clothing, and had large frames built for hugging and nurturing children. However, Twiggy wore mini skirts, was knock-kneed, gawky, awkward but still very girlish. Most significantly she had tiny frame with no breasts, and under-nourished limbs. The power of her appeal redefine femininity and created the image of a free, independent, yet professional female emerging from the 1960’s.
Twiggy and Justin de Villeneuve	Her modeling career took off after her photoshoot and she was proclaimed "The Face of ‘66" by British newspaper The Daily Express. She was such a young model that when first asked for an interview, she didn’t even know what an interview was. She was still a saucer-eyed teenager, shy, inarticulate, and answered almost every question with either "I dunno" or "Ask him" indicating her boyfriend Justin. Twiggy was now a phenomenon.
Her global success spawned products such as Twiggy dolls, twiggy cosmetics and her own line of clothing "Twiggy Dresses". Encouraged by her boyfriend, Twiggy took the common choice made by celebrities and recorded a single, "I Need You Hand in Mine" which went to number one in Japan. By the time she was 20, Twiggy had retired from modeling. She then worked with acclaimed director Ken Russell and starred in his production of "The Boyfriend". She took acting, dancing and singing lessons to prepare for this role which earned her the 1971 Golden Globe awards for "Most Promising Actress" and "Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy." It was around this time that her relationship with Justin "fell out" as she put it and Twiggy later married Michael Whitely who she met on the set of her next movie "W" in 1974. The couple had a child Carly, born December 1st 1978.
After a string of largely forgettable movies and a couple of albums, Twiggy had some success with her Broadway debut in "My One and Only" which earned her a Tony nomination. At the same time her marriage with Whitley was growing apart, and unfortunately Michael died of a heart attack at age 52. In the late 80’s Twiggy continued to make more films and television movies in the US and UK such as "Pygmalion", "The Doctor and the Devils" and "Young Charlie Chaplin". In the mid 80’s Twiggy met Leigh Lawson, a British actor who she married in 1988 after working on the film "Madame Sousatzka". She now resides in the Kensington section of London and is a slender 50-year-old with long hair.	Twiggy with daughter Carly
When she is now asked about her overnight metamorphosis from high school drop out to infamous model mobbed by crowds wherever she went, she has mixed opinions. On one hand, she hated her waif-like body and image. "I really hated what I looked like as a teenager… They called me an ‘elongated matchstick’, ‘the original million-dollar baby doll’. You were supposed to look like Brenda Lee, very curvy and round, pointed breasts and pointed-toe shoes. In all these pictures of me around twelve I’m wearing a brassiere with Kleenex stuffed in it…Most of the pictures of me taken then, I hate now". But overall, she loved the whole experience of being a model and an icon for the 1960’s. "I loved it –it was like a dream come true, a fairy story. It was certainly better than going to school, which was the only other thing I’d ever done."
	Probably one of the most captivating things about Twiggy, which fuelled her appeal, was that she always remained down to earth and simple. Although her figure was not a good role model for children, her personality and break into the modeling world was something to be looked up to.
"I'm basically an up kind of person, not a depressive. So whatever's happening, my head doesn't get that down and moody... I didn't get into a particularly swinging way of life, as the press would have liked to make out. We never went to parties because we hated them. I've really had a boring, ordinary life on the social level. I haven't been to all-night parties and I haven't had a million boyfriends and my favourite pastimes are still the same, sitting at home watching telly or going to a nice restaurant for dinner or having an evening at home sewing."