In her 1998 book Twiggy In Black and White, she says that she met Justin through his brother, when she worked as a Saturday girl at a hairdressers in London. De Villeneuve credits himself for Twiggy's discovery and her modelling success, and his version of events is often quoted in other biographies. She was short for a model at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), weighed eight stone (51 kg 110 lb) and had a 31–23–32 (79–58–81 cm) figure, "with a new kind of streamlined, androgynous sex appeal" 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). In it, the copy read: "The Cockney kid with a face to launch a thousand shapes. A few weeks later, the publication featured an article and images of Hornby, declaring her "The Face of '66". McSharry arranged to have more photos taken. Deirdre McSharry, a fashion journalist from the Daily Express, saw the images and asked to meet the young girl.
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A professional photographer Barry Lategan took several photos for Leonard, which the hairdresser hung in his salon. 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. In January 1966, aged 16, she had her hair coloured and cut short in London at Leonard of Mayfair, owned by celebrity hairdresser Leonard. Twiggy herself has been described as the successor to Shrimpton. She has said she based her "look" on Pattie Boyd. Her greatest influence is Jean Shrimpton, whom Twiggy considers to be the world's first supermodel. Twiggy is best remembered as one of the first international supermodels and a fashion icon of the 1960s. Twiggy's great-great-grandmother, Grace Meadows, died in a stampede of excitable shoppers at a bargain sale at Messrs McIllroys store on Mare Street, in Hackney, in 1897. She attended the Brondesbury and Kilburn High School. She used this skill to make her own clothing. Twiggy's mother taught her to sew from an early age.
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However, her mother's genealogy, which was examined on the series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2014, does not contain Jewish ancestry. According to Twiggy, her maternal grandfather was Jewish. Their first daughter, Shirley, had been born 15 years earlier their second, Vivien, had been born 7 years earlier. She was the third daughter of Nellie Lydia ( née Reeman), a factory worker for a printing firm, and William Norman Hornby, a master carpenter and joiner from Lancashire. Lesley Hornby was born on 19 September 1949 and raised in Neasden (originally in Middlesex, now a suburb of north-west London).
Her 1998 autobiography Twiggy in Black and White entered the best-seller lists. She later hosted her own series, Twiggy's People, in which she interviewed celebrities she also appeared as a judge on the reality show America's Next Top Model. In 1983, she made her Broadway debut in the musical My One and Only, for which she earned a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
Her role in The Boy Friend (1971) brought her two Golden Globe Awards. Īfter modelling, Twiggy enjoyed a successful career as a screen, stage, and television actress. By 1967, she had modelled in France, Japan, and the US, and had landed on the covers of Vogue and The Tatler. She was named "The Face of 1966" by the Daily Express and voted British Woman of the Year. Twiggy was initially known for her thin build and the androgynous appearance considered to result from her big eyes, long eyelashes, and short hair. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. Dame Leslie Lawson DBE ( née Hornby born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy.