Twiggy, an iconic model, actress, and singer, rose to fame in the 1960s with her distinctive androgynous look, influencing fashion and body image. She retired from modeling but continued to promote social causes, including animal rights. Twiggy was not responsible for the push for thin figures, which was propelled by the fashion industry and pop culture.
Twiggy is an iconic model, actress and singer who rose to fame in the 1960s when her signature look took fashion runways by storm around the world. Many people credit Twiggy with shaping the runway looks of the late 20th century, claiming that she had a huge influence on fashion design and style. Although Twiggy retired from her modeling career just a few years after it began, she left a lasting mark and developed into a well-known public figure who advanced her career by promoting the social causes she supported, including the movement for animal rights.
Twiggy was born as Leslie Hornin England in 1949 and at the age of 16 was very slender and extremely slim, with full lips, large eyes and pronounced eyelashes. Twiggy’s look was undeniably distinctive and fresh, and it’s no surprise that she was quickly singled out and swept up in the fashion industry, becoming the ‘face of ’66’ for Britain and beyond. She was, arguably, the first “supermodel”, an elite model with international fame in her own right.
Twiggy’s androgynous, streamlined look marked a radical departure from the figured women who dominated fashion in the 1950s. Women who looked like her found themselves in high demand on runways around the world, and Twiggy exemplified “mod” fashion, leading women everywhere to emulate her look and her style. By 1970, Twiggy had decided to retire from modeling, choosing to work solely as an actress and singer after making an indelible mark on the fashion industry.
In addition to having a profound and lasting influence on fashion, Twiggy has also changed the way women think about their bodies. Women in the 1960s and beyond struggled to achieve slim, slim bodies like Twiggy’s, sometimes going out of their way to achieve it. Twiggy herself, when asked about the rise of eating disorders such as anorexia, said she was “naturally thin” in the 1960s and that her weight has always been healthy and balanced.
She’s also said that she feels unfairly blamed for unrealistic beauty standards, and to some extent, she’s right. It is hardly Twiggy’s fault that she has become so popular and that her figure, natural or otherwise, has come to exemplify the height of female beauty. While Twiggy may have been the face of thin for the 1960s, the push for thin figures was propelled by the fashion industry, pop culture, and magazines, not Twiggy herself.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
