Leslie Hornby Essay, Research Paper

At 17 Leslie Hornby took hold of the world. At 21 she let it go, she was the

original waif, a 60?s phenomenon a superstar. She was "Twiggy? (Vogue).

Leslie Hornby was the revolutionary woman who changed the idea of beauty in the

eyes of the fashion industry and the entire world. Twiggy exemplified the

androgynous mod look that swept America as it had Britain and much of Europe in

the 1960?s. She healthily maintained a 5 ft 6 1/2 inch 90 lb body. Based on

her thin figure, a nickname of ?Twiggy? was derived. Twiggy?s popularity

not only produced many people who tried to look like her but also drastically

increased the hourly wages of models. She paved the way for current top models

like Kate Moss, Elle MacPherson, and Linda Evangelista. Twiggy was major

trendsetter in America during the sixties even though she was born in England.

She was found by Nigel Davies in a salon, while working as a shampoo girl. He

saw her potential and immediately took her to get a haircut at a Mr. Leonard?s

trendy salon in London. Mr. Leonard put her picture in his shop window, and a

short time later that picture was featured in the London Daily Express with a

caption that read ?This is the face of 1966? (Wilson). Davies, who preferred

to be called Justin De Villeneuve, was quite an interesting character with his

past resume containing ex-model, ex-antique dealer, and ex-hairdresser. After he

discovered her, he (age 25) became Twiggy?s (age 15) agent and boyfriend. He

took her to Paris and a short while after her popularity grew, she was put on

the cover of Elle Magazine, as well as Paris Match and the British edition of

Vogue. During Twiggy?s peak success in Europe, De Villeneuve set up Twiggy

Enterprises Ltd. where he gathered a line of clothes, false eyelashes,

cosmetics, dolls, and posters all endorsed by Twiggy. The business brought in

millions. Since Twiggy was so young, Justin ran the entire business. She only

had to agree to what she liked and put her name on it. The thought of a Model

taking advantage of her success to start an enterprise was completely

revolutionary. Once again Twiggy paved the way for models like Cindy Crawford,

Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell all of which opened highly

successful restaurants, and made exercise tapes, clothes, calendars, posters,

and many other products. The enterprising aspect of being a top model was

started by Twiggy and that influence is commonly seen in the business world

today. Twiggy?s next step in her career was to travel to the United States.

Twiggy?s success soared when she made her first visit to America. On March

20,1967 the second she stepped off the plane she was swarmed by fans, and was

candy to the media?s eyes. She was like a fever that spread. Everyone wanted a

piece of her. Her pictures were everywhere. Twiggy?s popularity allowed her to

charge revolutionary high prices an hour. She charged as much as $240 an hour

opposed to a 50?s top model like Suzy Parker who only received about $40 an

hour (Century of Models). Once again Twiggy set the standard for 90?s top

models to earn outrageous sums of money. For example, the 90?s Twiggy (Kate

Moss) earns about 26.3 million dollars a year. One reason for Twiggy?s great

success was that the public had never seen anyone like her. She had a completely

new look that took the entire world by surprise. During the 40?s, long limbed,

and sophisticated was the trend. In the 50?s, a more curvaceous womanly look

(Marilyn Monroe) was in. Twiggy set the 60?s waiflike standard. What a leap

from Marilyn to Twiggy. They were almost completely opposite. Twiggy?s

influence is still seen on today?s runways and television. The current day

Twiggy is Kate Moss. Her figure is strikingly similar (Twiggy 31-22-32, Moss

33-22-35) (Century of Models). Remarkably, Twiggy?s favorite thing to eat was

ice cream, bananas and hot fudge, she doesn?t drink or smoke but ?eats like

a horse? (Time). Twiggy is one of those girls who has an extremely high

metabolism and is healthy but just cannot gain weight. As a child, her mother

was very worried about Leslie?s thinness and took her to see many doctors. The

doctors concluded that the thinness was just a result of her body type and

couldn?t be helped. When asked what she thought of her figure as ?the thing

of the future? she replied ?it?s not really what you call a figure, is

it? (Wilson)? Twiggy, as well as thousands of other teenagers, went through

years of thinking of themselves as ugly. She couldn?t stand her thinness, but

as she became popular she began to like it (Twiggy). Ironically, the thin frame

that she hated was the thing that drove many girls and women to hate their

bodies as well. They saw all the pictures of thin Twiggy and aspired to look

like that, but when they discovered it was not easily achieved it drove women to

physical hate. This physical hate drove and still drives women to anorexia,

bulimia, alcohol and drug abuse which leads us to one of the major differences

between Twiggy and Moss. Twiggy obtained her figure while remaining healthy, but

Moss obtains her figure by resorting to drugs and alcohol abuse. The average

90?s woman is approximately 5?5 and weighs 150 lbs. Today fashion models on

average are close to six feet tall and weigh barely 120 pounds. That is too

skinny to be healthy. Over three-fourths of professional models have body

weights below normal (Women?s Health Weekly). A quarter of professional models

meet the weight criteria for anorexia nervosa, a life threatening disease

(Women?s Health Weekly). This current obsession with anorexia and bulimia

glorifies the disease by putting these models on the front covers of magazines.

Magazine ads featuring the skinny female fashion models have an immediate

negative impact on a woman?s self esteem according to the University of

Toronto study published in the International Journal of eating disorders. The

fashion industry should rethink how it portrays the female body so more women

can feel comfortable about themselves and not be pushed towards eating

disorders. People need to realize that you don?t have to be skinny to be

healthy, or have a perfect body, or a conventional face to have a great life.

From Twiggy to Kate Moss, the fashion industry has been attached to idealizing

such extreme slenderness, encouraging real women to hate their bodies and at

extreme, develop anorexia or bulimia. If these models are exemplars of ideal

beauty, then the measure for women is that to be beautiful, starvation level is

required. It appears that the media and the fashion industry would have the

public believe that ultra thinness symbolizes beauty when in reality, the

standard represents infertility, and premature death. The public has to realize

that Twiggy was different. Her slenderness was natural, and everyone should not

set their physical goals to that of hers, because it is physically impossible.

Twiggy is revolutionary. She is the pivotal woman who changed the image of the

ideal woman, and the face and body of fashion models. Her popularity allowed her

to drastically increase a models income. She showed the world that models no

longer were just a pretty face but also shrewd businesswomen with enterprises of

their own. Twiggy paved the way for the top models of today, and will always be

remembered. Her body matched Diana Vreeland’s description of the perfect

contemporary woman: ?the straightest legs, knees like little peaches, tiny

narrow supple feet, rounded arms, and beautiful wrists and throat. She was both

modern and romantic. She was perfect. " (Vogue).