“People always think of me as the Sixties Girl, but I never think of myself that way. Quite honestly, I hated what I looked like in the Sixties; I thought the magazines that put me on their covers had all gone mad!”
During the 1960s, there were four overarching trends in women’s fashion: a continuation of the ladylike styles from the previous decade, the emergence of the Youthquake movement and It-Girls like Mary Quant and Twiggy, the growing influence of technology and the Space Age, and the hippie style that came to dominate the late 1960s.
While there were many notable fashion icons of the 1960s (Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Birkin, just to name a few), no one personified the decade quite like British supermodel Twiggy. Her boyish Pixie Cut, trend-setting mod style, and infamous eyelashes made her one of the most recognizable faces of the era and paved the way for the future Kate Mosses and Linda Evangelistas of the world.
Born Lesley Hornby on September 19, 1949, Twiggy earned her nickname from her hairdresser and soon-to-be-boyfriend Nigel Davies (later known as Justin de Villeneuve), who dubbed her “Twigs” because of her waif-like frame. Unlike the bombshell blondes and glamour models of the 1950s, Twiggy’s lanky body and girlish charm embodied the young, sexually liberated “Single Girl” that emerged from the feminist and youth movements of the 1960s.
In 1966, de Villeneuve launched Twiggy’s career by giving her one of the most famous haircuts of all time, her iconic blonde pixie cut. She was soon declared “The Face of ’66” by The Daily Express and voted British Woman of the Year. In April 1967 she graced the cover of American Vogue, gaining international recognition and securing her status as one of the biggest influences on 1960s fashion.
Here, Twiggy poses for a portrait during the filming of Twiggy in Hollywood directed by Bert Stern part of a three episode documentary series that aired in the spring of 1967 on ABC-TV, in Los Angeles, California.
