Supermodel Twiggy is a 1960s style icon, or How thinness and short hair came into fashion

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In those days, excessive thinness was considered more a curse than happiness. Leslie Hornby, naturally frail, was teased at school with a “splinter”, a “stick” and a “bony” one. And she entered the world of fashion as a "reed" - "Twiggy", one of the first supermodels … Her face graced the covers of every glossy magazine in the 1960s. Since then, short haircuts, thinness and androgyny have come into fashion.

Twiggy never went on diets - increased metabolism contributed to natural grace and fragility. With a height of 169 cm, she weighed 41 kg, many modern models dream of her parameters - 80-55-80. Nevertheless, Marilyn Monroe was the standard of femininity for her, and she considered herself like a teenage boy. Twiggy marveled at her popularity: “Most of my fans are girls. I could not be a sex symbol with such a figure. Nevertheless - it was!

The twiggy boom was at its height in 1966-1967. At this time, 60% of fashionable clothes in boutiques were snapped up by girls aged 16 to 20, who sought to imitate Twiggy. This is how fashion for teenagers appeared. London was the first city to host youth fashion shows, and Twiggy was, of course, the protagonist of such shows.

The main "tricks" of her style were androgyny and infantilism: short "bell" and "baby" dresses, children's knee-highs, white fishnet tights, low-speed shoes with straps, turtleneck sweaters, big bright ties, shorts, short raincoats. Both in the wardrobe and in the makeup, delicate shades prevailed: pink, blue, beige. In honor of Twiggy, they even released a Barbie doll with narrower hips and small breasts, which became a hit.

Everyone knows Twiggy as one of the first supermodels, but few people know about her other talents and hobbies, of which there were a lot in addition to the modeling business. After school, she worked as an assistant in a hairdressing salon, and already there she attracted attention. She was immediately noticed by the talent of a make-up artist and hairstyle designer. There she also met her future producer, who convinced her to try herself in the role of a model.

In fact, the career of one of the world's most famous supermodels lasted only 4 years in this field - 1966 to 1970. She soon got bored of being just a "hanger for someone else's clothes." Twiggy began acting in films, acting in musicals and even singing. Her new pursuits brought her success: "Golden Globe" for her role in the musical "Boyfriend". In addition, she has recorded several solo albums.

Now Twiggy continues to lead an active and healthy lifestyle, hosts talk shows, takes part in the filming of talent shows and model shows as an expert and a jury member, releases his own line of clothing, cosmetics and perfumes.

Nowadays, the name Twiggy is most often associated with anorexia, although she herself has never suffered from this disease, unlike her fans. The term "Twiggy's syndrome" has even appeared to characterize a neuropsychic disorder in girls who exhaust themselves with diets until they lose consciousness. The phenomenon became so widespread that German photographer Yvonne Tyne created a special photo project "32 kilograms" dedicated to anorexia