TWIGGY’s70

In electrifying images, proof the birthday girl’s always been the queen of reinvention

her career began with a haircut in 1966 and culminated, this year, in a damehood. Twiggy — the National Treasure from Neasden, the girl once known as Lesley Hornby who became a global star — turned 70 yesterday.

And yet it seems like no time since, working on Cosmopolitan magazine aged 20, I was enthralled to hear how my then boss Deirdre McSharry launched Twiggy into the limelight. early in 1966, having been told she was too short at 5ft 6in to become a model, Twiggy had her long locks chopped off at the House of Leonard, London’s smartest salon.

A few days later, McSharry, then fashion editor of the Daily express, spotted a photo of the girl with the crop on the salon wall.

She invited Twiggy, still a schoolgirl, to tea and within weeks she appeared in the paper, announced as The Face of 66.

Soon she was in Vogue, being photographed by every renowned snapper of the time — from richard Avedon to Cecil Beaton — and the fashion icon of the decade was born. How ironic that model Jean ‘ The Shrimp’ Shrimpton, darling of Vogue, declared: ‘I’m not jealous [of Twiggy], why should I be? I’m sure her success will be ephemeral. She doesn’t please men. I do.’

Shrimpton was barely heard of again, while Twiggy has never disappeared from view. But she never stopped being her down-to-earth self and that, perhaps, is her secret. Women who grew up with her like that.

What she did do, so skilfully, was reinvent herself each decade, to the point where her estimated worth is around £40 million.

And as these pictures show, her diversity has been extraordinary. After retiring from regular modelling in 1970 she became a film star, singing, acting and dancing her way to two Golden Globes in The Boy Friend. How many people remember these triumphs?

In the eighties, she acted with robin Williams in movie Club Paradise and debuted on Broadway, receiving a Tony nomination for the musical My One And Only. Later, her portrayal of elvira in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit also received critical acclaim. Not that the small screen was beneath her — as her cameo in The Muppet Show demonstrates.

A mother, and grandmother, happily married for more than 30 years to second husband, actor Leigh Lawson, she says: ‘I’m enjoying getting older, except when my back plays up a bit.’ Happy birthday, Twiggy.

One of us. Well, almost.