One of the original supermodels, Twiggy\u2019s illustrious career is immortalised on-screen in director Sadie Frost\u2019s documentary. Twiggy speaks to Viva about her new film, the defining moments of the past 60 years, and how she\u2019s not planning on slowing down anytime soon. <\/p>\n
\n With her doe-eyed gaze, elfin features and
\n strikingly dark eyelashes, 16-year-old Lesley Hornby stepped into the Mayfair salon of celebrity hairstylist Leonard Lewis and walked out as Twiggy, her newly golden blonde hair chopped into a razor-sharp pixie cut.\n <\/p>\n
Her androgynous look challenged conventional beauty norms, which led to Daily Express fashion editor Deidre McSharry boldly declaring Twiggy as \u201cThe Face Of \u201966\u2033 \u2013 a title which transformed the London teen to a global fashion icon. <\/p>\n
Millennials might remember Twiggy\u2019s stint as a judge on America\u2019s Next Top Model for four cycles from 2005 to 2007. She hasn\u2019t seen the controversial Reality Check: Inside America\u2019s Next Top Model documentary, which questioned the ethics of the show, treatment of contestants and host Tyra Banks\u2019 responsibility for the problems, but says she always got on \u201creally well\u201d with model and host Tyra Banks. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had very little to do with the part where the girls were in the house. I\u2019d just turn up for judging and they\u2019d come into the studio. I was kind of removed from it, really,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a nice job. I did say to Tyra up front that I didn\u2019t want to be the bad guy, because I\u2019ve been one of those young girls. My heart went out to them, really. I said to her \u2018If you want a bad guy, you\u2019ve got to find somebody else\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Director Sadie Frost and Dame Lesley Lawson (Twiggy) attend a VIP screening of “Twiggy” at The Cinema at Selfridges in 2025. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Now 76, Twiggy reflects on the past 60 years she\u2019s spent in the spotlight in a new documentary by director Sadie Frost. <\/p>\n
Despite being offered to do documentaries \u201ca few times over the last 20 years\u201d, Twiggy says she didn\u2019t feel simpatico with any of the directors. That was until Frost\u2019s producers asked Twiggy if she\u2019d feature the director on her podcast, to discuss the documentary she\u2019d done on Mary Quant.<\/p>\n
The pair joked on the episode that Frost should do Twiggy\u2019s life next, and over lunch a week later, the deal was done. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite a big decision to have your life told on a big screen. The first time I saw it, I cried through most of it. Sadie did a brilliant job. She and her team found things I\u2019d never seen before. I\u2019ve got endless photographs but to see my daughter as a little girl and my mum and dad, who aren\u2019t here anymore, was very emotional,\u201d Twiggy says.<\/p>\n
Three years in the making, the well-paced telling of Twiggy\u2019s many watershed moments are explored through a mix of archival footage and in-person interviews with magazine editors, modelling icons Pattie Boyd, Joanna Lumley, Brooke Shields and Kate Moss, alongside actors Sienna Miller and Dustin Hoffman. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe changed the face of fashion,\u201d fashion editor and author Suzy Menkes says in the film, because \u201cshe smiled. She smiled a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twiggy captured by photographer Michael Ochs in 1966. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
She was born Lesley Hornby in Neasden, northwest London, in 1949, the youngest of three daughters to parents William and Nellie. At age 13, enamoured by British youth subculture, Twiggy became a mod \u2013 a term emblematic at the time of anything trendy or fashionable. By age 16, Twiggy left school with her dad\u2019s blessing and her career took flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was very worried that this would only last a couple of months,\u201d Twiggy says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut wisely, he said, \u2018If I don\u2019t give you this chance now, we\u2019ll never know and you might end up being angry at me\u2019. It was a wise decision for a dad to make, and the only stipulation he made was that I had to have a chaperone [her then boyfriend Justin de Villeneuve] with me. He was an old-fashioned dad, very sensible and kind, and really loved me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Twiggy poses with her many magazine covers in 1967. Photo \/ Hulton Deutsch Collection for Getty Images<\/p>\n
Of all the influences in her early life, Twiggy holds McSharry in high regard, even travelling to Bath with a bunch of flowers to thank her after the film premiered in the UK last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the one who was brave. I wasn\u2019t trying to be somebody else. That\u2019s just what I looked like,\u201d Twiggy says of the moniker McSharry gave her 60 years ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had people I looked up to, like Jean Shrimpton, but I didn\u2019t look anything like her. My look was very much mine \u2013 especially since I was a mod and was very into making my own clothes.\u201d <\/p>\n
Twiggy performs in “The Boyfriend” in 1971. Photo \/ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Getty Images<\/p>\n
A multi-hyphenate long before the term itself was coined, it was never written in the stars for the \u201cCockney kid\u201d to model, act, sing or dance. <\/p>\n
Looking back, she says what\u2019s wonderful is the chance she was given by all the people who believed in her. <\/p>\n
\u201cDeidre McSharry changed my life completely, as did Leonard, who cut my hair. I had no plans to be an actress, singer or dance and then I became friends with [The Boyfriend director] Ken Russell. He opened up this world for me that I never had any ambition to do, but in a way it was nicer because everything was a wonderful surprise,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Her performance in The Boyfriend earned her two Golden Globes (they still sit proudly on her mantelpiece). Then came her own TV show. A recording deal and a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. A Christmas special where she sang live with Bing Crosby. Clothing collections for Marks & Spencer. An 18-month run of My One And Only with Tommy Tune on Broadway. And much, much more. <\/p>\n
Twiggy performs at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975. Photo \/ Michael Putland for Getty Images<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the many strings to her bow, including being appointed as a Dame Commander in 2019, Twiggy says: \u201cEverything has been a fantastic experience.\u201d The self-proclaimed optimist looks fondly at her life and says she\u2019s been \u201cvery blessed\u201d to have been on this journey.<\/p>\n
Despite her many achievements, Twiggy\u2019s family life has always taken precedence over her work. Her preference these days is to pick and choose only projects she feels passionate about. <\/p>\n
She met her now-husband, actor Leigh Lawson, at a dinner with friends in 1984 and says she fell \u201cmadly in love\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was gorgeous physically, and also really sweet and lovely,\u201d Twiggy says. They\u2019ve been together 38 years.<\/p>\n
Today, Twiggy is a proud grandmother to five grandchildren (two from her daughter, Carly, and three from stepson, Jason).<\/p>\n
Twiggy arrives at the Burberry Summer 2026 show during London Fashion Week in 2025. Photo \/ Alan Chapman for Getty Images<\/p>\n
Twiggy counts the collection she designed with Marks & Spencer as a career highlight, a curated edit of tailored pieces that felt true to her own personal style, including a selection of brogues in different colours that she still wears to this day. <\/p>\n
Not one to wear frilly dresses, Twiggy says she leans into structured silhouettes \u2013 waistcoats, trousers and brogues are on heavy rotation in her wardrobe. <\/p>\n
For most of her red carpet appearances, she dons a \u201cbeautiful tailored suit\u201d, but says she feels equally as comfortable dressed down at home \u2013 Covid\u2019s ripple effect in action. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe all got so used to dressing very comfortable in trackpants and sneakers, that has rubbed off. In [the UK], certainly. I don\u2019t know many of my friends who have gone back into wearing high heels,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Twiggy hints that another collection is in the works, saying she\u2019s in talks with people now (but won\u2019t specify who). <\/p>\n
\u201cI love that part of my life. I love designing, I love fabric, I love to make clothes. At the moment, I mostly make them for my grandchildren,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
The clothes she designs for brands are based on what she herself would wear. <\/p>\n
\u201cI used to say to my team, \u2018I\u2019m not going to do a pale lemon dress with roses on it. That\u2019s not me. Somebody else can do that\u2019,\u201d she says, adding that the pieces she loves to design transcend age and trend. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe nice thing is that women over a certain age still dress brilliantly. In my mum\u2019s day, when you got past 50, you wore old lady clothes. That doesn\u2019t happen anymore. I\u2019m happy to say I know so many really stylish older women.\u201d <\/p>\n
In fashion and beauty, Twiggy is quick to point out how the mainstream are obsessed with attracting the younger market, but says: \u201cThere\u2019s a whole market out there they\u2019re missing out on.\u201d<\/p>\n
She jokes it always makes her laugh to see an anti-ageing skincare brand use an 18-year-old model to sell its product, adding she didn\u2019t wear foundation until she was in her 40s. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re young, the skin is beautiful. It\u2019s there to be celebrated.\u201d <\/p>\n
Twiggy has famously said she\u2019d never try Botox or injectables, either. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe thought of injecting something in my face is terrifying. I\u2019m quite proud of my wrinkles. I\u2019ve lived, I\u2019ve earned them,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
These days, her self-care rituals adopt a much slower pace. She never goes to sleep with makeup on, eats healthy and does Pilates once a week. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t do anything specific, I keep my body and my face clean. Not going to sleep with makeup on is my number one rule. Apart from messing up the sheets, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very good for your skin,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
She fosters her love of cooking by creating healthy meals, but says she\u2019s not fanatical about her diet, either. <\/p>\n
A former gym bunny, Twiggy turned her attention to Pilates 12 years ago after a chiropractor suggested building up her core strength might help with a lower-back problem. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I started it 40 years ago. To anyone out there, you should do Pilates. It\u2019s wonderful, I love the peace of it \u2013 you go into a meditative state for an hour but it\u2019s also really good for your body,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Dame Lesley Lawson with husband Leigh Lawson in 2024. Photo \/ Dave Bennett for Getty Images<\/p>\n
Even in her mid 70s, Twiggy quips that sitting at home retired wouldn\u2019t suit her at all. Instead, she\u2019s reignited her love of music (her last album was released in 2011) by recording four new tracks with songwriter Amy Wadge, who she connected with after hearing her work on the TV show Keeping Faith. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s brilliant, I love her. I\u2019m obsessed with her music,\u201d Twiggy says, adding they plan to get back into Wadge\u2019s home studio after the UK summer. She hopes to release an EP with Wadge, or do \u201ca few fun little gigs and things\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been lovely for me. I haven\u2019t been in the studio for ages and it\u2019s lovely working on new projects. It gives you that excitement, that boost of something new.\u201d<\/p>\n
On spending the past six decades being a master of reinvention, Twiggy says: \u201cYou have to do that today. You can\u2019t just sit in your own little puddle and think \u2018Oh this is nice\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like analysing my life but I think the fact that I did go on to do lots of different things has helped my longevity,\u201d she says, signing off with a cheery: \u201cGive my love to New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twiggy is screening on Rialto Channel on selected dates, starting from May 7. <\/p>\n
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