Celebrating Twiggy, the Face of the Sixties, on Her Birthday
Helen of Troy might have had the face that launched a thousand ships, but Twiggy’s set the Youthquake of the sixties in motion. Doll-like, with painted-on eyelashes, a constellation of freckles, boy-short hair, and a frame as slender as a reed, Twiggy—née Lesley Hornby—introduced the fashion world to a fresh new look entirely. To celebrate the birthday of this memorable model who first appeared on her first Vogue cover in 1967 and turns 65 today, we pulled quotes—about and by—Twiggy from the magazine’s archives that shed light onto her lasting appeal.
Photo: Everett Collection1/10“A heroine for her time,” is how Vogue described Twiggy.
Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images2/10“Twiggy,” explained Vogue in 1967, “is called Twiggy because she looks as though a strong gale would snap her in two and dash her to the ground.”
Photo: Peter Stuart/REX USA, Courtesy of Everett Collection3/10“Everybody knows her name—taxi drivers greet her by it. So do children in the park. And their nannies and grannies,” observed Vogue.
Photo: Peter Stuart / Rex USA, Courtesy Everett Collection4/10“Her face might have been conceived by a computer to match the requirements of a face of the sixties,” journalist Polly Devlin wrote in Vogue.
