Lesley Hornby was born on 19 September 1949 in north-west London. She became Twiggy, later Lesley Lawson. On 19 September 2026 she turns 77. The cropped hair and eye make-up of 1966 stayed in fashion history; the career did not stop there.

The British press called her “The Face of 1966”. She worked as a teenager, then on covers beyond the United Kingdom. It coincided with the moment when the model became a named celebrity, not an anonymous silhouette. The success should not be told as a lesson about weight.

After a few intense years she left front-line modelling and moved into film and music. In The Boy Friend (1971), directed by Ken Russell, she received two Golden Globes: actress in a musical or comedy and new star of the year. Theatre followed, including a Tony nomination for My One and Only, then television and, later, fashion collaborations.

In the 2019 New Year Honours she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to fashion, the arts and charity. A briefing that placed the honour in 2025 has the year wrong. A documentary around 2025 is a different event, not the damehood.

The influence on fashion photography is real. So is the argument about a single body type turned into a standard. An anniversary piece can hold both without selling the silhouette as a recipe.

The Victoria and Albert Museum keeps garments and an introductory article. The National Portrait Gallery holds portraits. This account does not reproduce magazine covers and does not quote lyrics.

Seventy-seven years means a working life after 1966, not a frozen photograph. Twiggy remains the public name; Lesley Lawson is the person named in the Gazette.

Image: Ken Russell and Twiggy on the set of The Boy Friend / Wikimedia Commons. A film set, not the 1966 magazine covers. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Introducing Twiggy | Victoria and Albert Museum; Lesley (Twiggy) Lawson, D.B.E. | The London Gazette.