Sunday, 4 May 2008
Twiggy
"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.