Twiggy

How a cheerful, down-to-earth London girl became the iconic face of 1960s fashion … and what she did next.

Working-class London girl Lesley Hornby was an unlikely fashion model: at only 5 foot 6 with an elfin figure, her childhood nickname was ‘Twigs’. But in 1966, a new name and a new cropped haircut from celebrity coiffeur Leonard of Mayfair launched 16-year-old Twiggy to worldwide fame as the face of London fashion’s ‘youthquake’. After shaking off her older boyfriend/manager, she started hanging out with Ken Russell and David Bowie, and embarked on an acting and singing career that would earn her two Golden Globes plus a Tony nomination.

Sadie Frost’s joyful film (her second Swinging London doco, after 2021’s Quant) is brought to life by its irresistibly sunny, sincere subject, who has never dwelled on hardship or heartbreak, and who sailed right past misogynistic comments on her body and classist jibes about her intelligence. In this documentary, her iconic subject recounts the many lives she’s been blessed to live, while a who’s who of film and fashion – including Joanna Lumley, Sienna Miller, Edward Enninful, Barbara Hulanicki, Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney and Brooke Shields – drops by to deliver well-deserved flowers.

Screening at Luna Leederville and the Windsor, December 4.