Twiggy Today

Twiggy.       Leslie Hornsby was born into a working class family in a
suburb of London, England in 1949. (My goodness, Twiggy is 63
today).  Being naturally very thin her father began to call her by
the pet name of "Sticks". Because of this her friends began to call
her "Twig". At the age of fifteen she was 5 feet 6 inches and
weighed 91 pounds. Her measurements were 31" – 22" – 32" and
completely flat chested. Girls in London at that time dated early
and one of her dates was a 25 year old hair dresser by the name of
Nigel Davies who professional name was "Justin de Villeneuve" because
he thought the name made him sophisticated.
Justin took Twiggy to the well-known London super hairdresser Mr.
Leonard.   He bleached her hair and cut it into a boyish short cut
with long bangs draped across her forehead and caught behind her
ear. This style became her signature hairstyle. Only in the
rebellion of 1960's London could a boyishly thin young woman who had
modeled for posters of starving children in the third world countries
become the height of sophisticated 1960's London.
Within the year Justin de Villeniuve became boyfriend, bodyguard, and
mentor. Within months "Twiggy" was the top model in London and Paris
with her picture on the cover of Elle, the famous French magazine.
Twiggy arrived in the U. S. A. on March 20, 1967 in the middle of a
large media blitz. She was greeted by then President Lyndon Johnson
and was a guest at Disneyland. She brought to America with her a
dress line and other Twiggy products. Her licensed products
included: jewelry boxes, notebooks, t-shirts, board games, and cards
to name a few. Her earring line sales soared to over three million
dollars in sales.
All of this activity and adoration for the young girl from London
caught the eye of Mattel, the creators of Barbie. Mattel needed to
update the Barbie story and scene. When the story of Barbie began in
the late fifties, America was a calm nation. The Viet Nam war had
not begun and families were the focus of society. By the late
sixties all of this had changed and Mattel needed to update Barbie to
more current events. Not wanting to create controversy by making her
a part of the war and protest movements that were so prevalent at the
time, the fashion scene that Twiggy represented was just what was
needed for Barbie.
Mattel secured the rights to a Twiggy doll. Made of vinyl, she was
eleven  inches tall and had rooted eyelashes and hair. The Twiggy doll
was made using the Casey head mold and the Francie body. Available
also were four outfits with names such as: "Twiggy Gear", "Twiggy
Turnouts", Twiggy Do's", and Twigster". All of these outfits were
very short very mod mini skirt designs.
The Twiggy doll was a huge hit and Barbie and her other "Mod
friends", Cousin Francie, Twiggy, and Casey were a huge hit in the
early 1970's. When the mod period ended Mattel moved on with a new
story line for Barbie.
Twiggy retired from modeling and married actor Michael Whitney and in
1979 had a daughter. When her husband died from a heart attack, she
decided to become an actress and has made several movies and appeared
many times in the theater and on television. She has been well
received as an actress and has grown in both her personal and
professional life. She has remarried to director Leigh Lawson and now
goes by the professional name of Twiggy Lawson.
A boat cruise many years ago with comedian Fran Dresher and Twiggy's
family created so much culture shock, Dresher created the hit
television show "The Nanny" from the experience.
In 2005 Twiggy appeared as a permanent judge on the Television
show, `America's Next Top Model." She continues to model and act.
Below is listed her official web site with pictures of her today.  She is 
still a very beautiful woman today.  Twiggy in real life is a success story
that began in the turbulent sixties and continues today.

http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk/index.html