Dame Lesley Lawson (née Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer.

Twiggy was initially known for her thin build and the androgynous appearance considered to result from her big eyes, long eyelashes, and short hair.

She later hosted her own series, Twiggy's People, in which she interviewed celebrities, and appeared as a judge on the reality show America's Next Top Model.

[5] She was the third daughter of Nellie Lydia (née Reeman), a factory worker for a printing firm, and William Norman Hornby, a master carpenter and joiner from Lancashire.

[21] She was short for a model at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), weighed six point five stone (41 kg; 91 lb) and had a 31–23–32 (79–58–81 cm) figure, "with a new kind of streamlined, androgynous sex appeal".

"[21] Twiggy's look centred on three qualities: her stick-thin figure, a boyishly short haircut and strikingly dark eyelashes.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2009 catalogue for its exhibition The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion stated:Twiggy's adolescent physique was the perfect frame for the androgynous styles that began to emerge in the 1960s.

"[37] At the height of her fame, Mark Cohen, president of Leeds Women's shop, had an even harsher view: "Her legs remind me of two painted worms."

[citation needed] After four years of modelling, Twiggy retired in 1970, stating, "You can't be a clothes hanger for your entire life!

"[39] She broke off with Justin de Villeneuve, who had been overseeing her business affairs since 1966, and released him from his duties as her manager, claiming in later years that "her career had more to do with that famous picture of her with those funny painted eyelashes, which appeared in the Daily Express under the headline 'The Face of '66'" than with his promotional efforts.

[citation needed] Twiggy then embarked on an acting and singing career, starring in a variety of roles on stage and screen, and recording albums.

The same year, she performed her first leading role as Polly Browne in Russell's adaptation of Sandy Wilson's pastiche of 1920s hit musicals, The Boy Friend (1971).

[40] In October 1975, she sang at the live performance of Roger Glover's The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast album at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

After the initial season, Twiggy left the series, and American International Television continued Jukebox with Britt Ekland as host, using standard music videos rather than clips from Supersonic.

In 1987, she played a vaudeville performer in the British television special The Little Match Girl, and in 1988, she appeared in a supporting role in Madame Sousatzka opposite her second husband, Leigh Lawson.

)[42][43] In 1993, Twiggy appeared alongside Mark Hamill in the short segment "Eye" from the made-for-cable horror anthology Body Bags.

A year later, she played Gertrude Lawrence in the biographical stage revue Noel and Gertie at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

In 1999, she returned to the New York stage in an off-Broadway production, If Love Were All, a revised version of Noel and Gertie, written and directed by Leigh Lawson; what set this edition apart were its tap numbers in period style.

Seventeen of the CD's 20 tracks had previously unreleased material from 1982 to 1990, including a duet with Leo Sayer, "Save the Last Dance for Me", and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".

In 2005, she joined the cast of the television show America's Next Top Model for Cycles 5–9 as one of four judges, and a year later, she appeared on the cover of the "Icons" issue of Swindle magazine.

She also returned to modelling, fronting a major television, press, and billboard campaign for Marks & Spencer, the British department-store chain.

[citation needed] She also appeared in Marks & Spender's 2008 Christmas ad campaign alongside Myleene Klass, Lily Cole, and others.

A website campaign set up by Jo Swinson, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, attracted 700 individual complaints.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that the ad gave a "misleading" impression, but that no further action was required because the image had already been withdrawn.

Its announcement said: However, we considered that the post-production re-touching of this ad, specifically in the eye area, could give consumers a misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve.

[49] She was one of the few famous celebrities to avoid being cut from the Marks & Spencer fashion team in 2009–2010, when Dannii Minogue joined her for the spring/summer women's wear campaign.

A collection of pop and easy listening standards spanning several generations, the album features versions of such compositions as "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "Blue Moon", "My Funny Valentine", "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me", and London anthem "Waterloo Sunset".

Alongside this, a live virtual experience by metaverse company, Hadean, and live event visualisation solutions provider, disguise, made use of Unreal Engine to create a photo-realistic recreation of London's Carnaby Street in the 1960s, engaging users with interactive elements based on Twiggy's memories of the time.

She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to fashion, to the arts and to charity.

[3] She was one of the celebrities, including Tom Hiddleston, Jo Brand, E. L. James, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Rachel Riley, to design and sign her own card for the UK-based charity Thomas Coram Foundation for Children.