Twiggy has had a career in fashion that spans decades.
Born Lesley Hornby, Twiggy’s acclaimed modeling career started by accident. She agreed to model a new hairstyle for a salon in London when she was a teenager. Fashion editor Deirdre McSharry discovered the image and asked to meet Twiggy. McSharry arranged to have more photos taken of her. The editor, who worked at the Daily Express, featured the pictures in an article a few weeks later calling Twiggy “The Face of ’66.” The rest was history.
As a long-standing fashion industry figure, Twiggy has lived through many style phases throughout her life under the spotlight. She’s gone from the cool Mod girl in her teens and early 20s to a sophisticated and business-style judge during the seasons she was on “America’s Next Top Model.”
WWD looks back at the iconic model’s style through the decades.
1960s
The Mod era heavily characterized ’60s British style. Twiggy, whose fame was largely attributed to her androgynous looks, was the quintessential mold for many female “Mods” as they were called, with her short haircut and displaying the next big things in fashion as a model. Twiggy is considered a symbol of the Mod era, but rather than adopting trends, she was the trendsetter.
1970s
In 1970, Twiggy retired from modeling, declaring, “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your entire life!” Despite her short-lived modeling career, this didn’t have any negative impact on her personal fashion sense. She began adopting the more colorful and bohemian styles of the ’70s, wearing more patterns and bright colors. She would move on from modeling to becoming an actress and singer.
1980s
During the ’80s, Twiggy began focusing more on her acting and singing career and her fashion sense became more inspired by Hollywood. She began donning glamorous cocktail dresses and eveningwear fit for her public appearances. For her work on stage, she was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for “My One and Only.”
1990s
The ’90s saw Twiggy begin adopting more power suiting and tailored pieces. She was often photographed in neutral-colored suits that defined much of women’s power dressing in the ’90s with a rise of more women in politics and positions of power. By this point, Twiggy was still highly regarded for her short modeling career and had racked up her share of acting credits on her résumé.
’00s
Twiggy’s affinity for power dressing carried into the 2000s, and her style and storied career became known to a whole new generation thanks to her five seasons as a judge on “America’s Next Top Model.” The fashion icon joined the weekly judge’s panel, where she’d mix it up by wearing tailored jackets and often switching to jewel-tone tops.
At the 2009 Met Gala, where the theme was “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion,” Twiggy attended alongside one of the most successful models of the ’00s decade, Agyness Deyn. Twiggy wore a black-and-white formal look with a butterfly appliqué fascinator.
2010s
As fashion became more maximalist in the 2010s, Twiggy embraced more statement jackets and coats in bright colors and patterns. At the Chelsea Flower Show in 2015, she opted for a floral-print moto jacket that was comparative parts edgy and camp when paired with her skinny black jeans and Chelsea boots.