Twiggy Photo Exhibition

She was the world's first supermodel, the pin-up girl of the swinging sixties and is one of the sassiest 60-year-olds around. Twiggy, and her life in photographs, is being celebrated at the National Portrait Gallery. The Twiggy photo exhibition provides a snapshot of one of the most iconic faces in fashion. With photos by some of the industry's most famous photographers and personal insights from the model herself, this is a must-see exhibition for fashionistas.

Elfin Icon
Twiggy has had quite a career, most of it at the end of a lens. She hit the scene with a boyish haircut, a quirky dress sense and elfin-like frame. That famous haircut by Leonard, and her long spidery eyelashes came to define a generation. As well as celebrating her 60th birthday, the Twiggy photo exhibition is a chance to see how the world of fashion photography and portraiture has evolved.

Leading Photographers
As well as those famous early images, the Twiggy photo exhibition features some of her recent modelling work. In all, there are more than 20 images of her spanning the decades. She's appeared in all the leading magazines, and has more recently become the face of Marks and Spencers. Some of the leading photographers to have snapped her include Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Melvin Sokolsky, Ronald Traegar, Bert Stern and Norman Parkinson and, more recently, Bryan Adams, John Swannell, Steven Meisel and Solve Sundsbo.

Mod Model
It was in 1966 when Twiggy, or Lesley Hornby, first hit the scene. She was only 16 but with a set a pictures by Barry Lategan, which appear in the Twiggy photo exhibition, and a short crop haircut by Leonard she became one of the icons of the swinging sixties. She typified Mary Quant's high-fashion mod look and was touted as the Face of 1966. But her reign as the face of young fashionable London continued for a further three years, before she retired from modelling to start an acting and singing career.

Award-winning Actress
In the seventies Twiggy made the leap from photo studio to film-set when she played the lead in Ken Russell's film The Boyfriend. She won two Golden Globes - Most Promising Newcomer and Best Actress in a Musical. Her acting success was sealed when she went on to star in the Broadway musical My One and Only, and she was nominated for a Tony award. But, despite retiring from modelling, she continued to make regular appearances in print and posed for some of the leading contemporary photographers, including Mary McCartney, daughter of the late Linda McCartney, who also photographed the model.

Personal Portrait
To accompany the exhibition, a hard-back book - Twiggy: A Life in Photographs - will be published in September. It includes a range of portraits from the gallery's collection, as well as personal insights from Twiggy and an introduction by Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs. The book also includes cuttings, personal photos and memorablia from Twiggy and more 100 illustrations as well as a retrospective of the portraits in Twiggy's own words.

The Twiggy photo exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery from 19th September 2009 - 24th March 2010.

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