Twiggy says she was “too shy” to protest when her hair was cut into a pixie crop.
The British model admits she wasn’t initially sure about the iconic androgynous hairstyle, which led her to become one of the world’s first supermodels. Twiggy, then aged 17, had long brown hair before stepping into the London salon where stylist Leonard Lewis decided to try out a different style.
“I went in to have it shampooed and set and Leonard saw me and he said, ‘Let me do my new haircut on you,'” Twiggy revealed while appearing on Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast.
“I’d been growing my hair. For a moment I kind of went, ‘I don’t know whether I want my hair cut.’ But I was in this very posh salon in Mayfair so I was a bit too shy to say I don’t want it done, and I kind of nodded.
“I went back the next day and I was in there for seven hours, where he cut it and then I went out and had it coloured and then re-cut. Oh, it was mad.”
Twiggy’s slight frame, short blonde hair and huge blue eyes catapulted her to worldwide fame. The hair transformation saw her career take off after hairdresser Lewis asked British fashion photographer Barry Lategan to take pictures of her striking new blonde crop. The black-and-white snaps launched her modelling career and she became an icon of the 60s.
“When that haircut started, when that photograph was taken, that was the pivotal moment,” she recalled.
Twiggy, real name Lesley Hornby, travelled all over the world to model and had a host of famous friends. The 70-year-old has recalled attending one star-studded party thrown by Sonny and Cher where she turned down a Hollywood heartthrob.
“One of the biggest film stars was Steve McQueen – he was gorgeous,” she smiled. “I was 17 and I was with my boyfriend and Steve McQueen turned up on his motorbike. We got introduced and he asked me to dance – and I said no.”
Reuters
