After modeling, Twiggy went on to enjoy a successful career as a screen, stage, and television actress. She has hosted her own series, Twiggy’s People, in which she interviewed celebrities, and also appeared as a judge on the reality show America’s Next Top Model. Her 1998 autobiography, Twiggy in Black and White, entered the bestseller lists. Since 2005, she has modeled for Marks and Spencer, most recently to promote their recent rebranding, appearing in TV adverts and print media, alongside Myleene Klass, Erin O’Connor, Lily Cole and others.

Twiggy Lawson was brought up in the northwest London suburb of Neasden, the daughter of Helen (Nellie) Lydia Hornby (née Reeman), a factory worker for a printing firm, and William Norman Hornby, a master carpenter and joiner. Twiggy’s mother taught her to sew from a young age, and she used this talent to make her own clothing. She attended the Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in Salusbury Road, Kilburn. Twiggy is the youngest of three sisters. Shirley is 15 years older, and Vivien is seven years older.

Twiggy married American actor Michael Witney in 1977. They had one daughter, Carly, born in 1978. That marriage ended with his sudden death in 1983 from a heart attack. Twiggy met her second husband, Leigh Lawson, in 1984. In 1988 they worked on the film Madame Sousatzka, and married that year in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Lawson adopted Twiggy’s daughter, Carly, who took on his surname. The couple resides in London.

In her official site, she describes herself as being an ardent supporter of breast cancer research, animal welfare, and anti-fur campaigns.

Twiggy is best remembered as one of the first international supermodels and a fashion icon of the 1960s and 70s. Her greatest influence is Jean Shrimpton, whom Twiggy considers to be the world’s first supermodel. Twiggy has also been described as the successor to Jean Shrimpton. In January 1966, young Lesley Hornby had her hair colored and cut short in Mayfair at The House of Leonard, owned by celebrity hairdresser Leonard. The hair stylist was looking for models on whom to try out his new crop haircut and he styled her hair in preparation for a few test head shots. A professional photographer Barry Lategan took several photos for Leonard, which the hairdresser hung in his salon. Deidre McSharry, a fashion journalist from the Daily Express, saw the images and asked to meet the young girl. McSharry arranged to have more photos taken. A few weeks later the publication featured an article and images of Hornby, declaring her “The Face of ’66.” In it, the copy read: “The Cockney Kid with a face to launch a thousand shapes … and she’s only 16! – The Daily Express, 23 February 1966.

Lesley’s career quickly took off. She was 5’6″ tall (short for a model), weighed a mere 6½ stone (41 kg, 91 lbs) and had a thin, boyish 31-22-32 figure. Her hairdresser boyfriend, Nigel Davies, became her manager, changed his name to Justin de Villeneuve, and persuaded her to change her name to Twiggy (from “Twigs”, her childhood nickname). De Villeneuve credits himself for Twiggy’s discovery and her modeling success, and his version of events is often quoted in other biographies. Ten years her senior, he managed her lucrative career for seven years, overseeing her finances and enterprises during her heyday as a model.

Twiggy was soon seen in all the leading fashion magazines, commanding fees of £80 an hour, bringing out her own line of clothes called “Twiggy Dresses” in 1967, and taking the fashion world by storm. “I hated what I looked like,” she said once, “so I thought everyone had gone stark raving mad.” Twiggy’s androgynous look centered on three qualities: her stick thin figure, a boyishly short haircut and strikingly dark eyelashes. Describing how she obtained her prominent eyelashes, now known as Twiggys, she said, “Back then I was layering three pairs of false eyelashes over my own and would paint extra ‘twigs’ on my skin underneath.”

One month after the Daily Express article, Twiggy posed for her first shoot for Vogue. A year later, she had appeared in 13 separate fashion shoots in international Vogue editions. Twiggy arrived in New York in March 1967 at JFK airport, an event covered by the press. The New Yorker, Life and Newsweek reported on the Twiggy “phenomenon” in 1967, with the New Yorker devoting nearly 100 pages to the subject.” That year she became an international sensation, modeling in France, Japan, and America, and landing the cover of Paris Vogue in May, the cover of US Vogue three times, in April, July and November, and the cover of British Vogue in October. In 1967, an editorial on p. 63 of the March 15 edition of Vogue described her as an “extravaganza that makes the look of the sixties.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2009 catalogue of Style: Model as Muse Embodying Fashion states that “Twiggy’s adolescent physique was the perfect frame for the androgynous styles that began to emerge in the 1960s. The trend was manifested in a number of templates: sweet A-line dresses with collars and neckties, suits and dresses that took their details from military uniforms, or, in the case of Yves Saint Laurent, and explicit transposition of the male tuxedo to women. Simultaneously, under the rubric of ‘unisex,’ designs that were minimalistic, including Nehru suits and space-agey jumpsuits, were proposed by designers such as Pierre Cardin and Andre Courreges, and, most famously in the U.S.A., by Rudi Gernreich.” Twiggy has been photographed by such noted photographers as Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Melvin Sokolsky, Ronald Traeger, Bert Stern, Norman Parkinson, Annie Leibovitz and Steven Meisel.

Twiggy and the magazines featuring her image polarised critics from the start. Her boyishly thin image was criticized as, and is still blamed for, promoting an “unhealthy” body ideal for women. “Twiggy came along at a time when teen-age spending power was never greater,” said Su Dalgleish, fashion correspondent for the London Daily Mail. “With that underdeveloped, boyish figure, she is an idol to the 14- and 15-year-old kids. She makes virtue of all the terrible things of gawky, miserable, adolescence.” 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.” Yet Twiggy had her supporters. Diana Vreeland of Vogue stated, “She’s no flash in the pan. She is the mini-girl in the mini-era. She’s delicious looking.” In recent years Twiggy has spoken out against the trend of waif-thin models, explaining that her own thin weight as a teenager was natural: “I was very skinny, but that was just my natural build. I always ate sensibly – being thin was in my genes.”

After four years of modeling, Twiggy retired in 1970, claiming “You can’t be a clothes hanger for your entire life!” 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.

Twiggy embarked on an award-winning acting and singing career, starring in a variety of roles on stage and screen, and recording albums. In 1971, she made her film debut as an extra in Ken Russell’s The Devils. The same year, she performed her first leading role in features as Polly Browne in Ken Russell’s adaptation of Sandy Wilson’s pastiche of 1920s hit musicals The Boy Friend. This marked her initial collaboration with Tommy Tune, and won her two Golden Globe Awards in 1972 (New Star of the Year – Actress and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy). In 1974, she made her West End stage debut in Cinderella, and made a second feature, the thriller W; co-starred with future husband Michael Whitney, and hosted her own British television series, Twiggs (later renamed Twiggy).

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. The concert was filmed and produced by Tony Klinger and released to theaters in 1976.

In November, 1976 she made an appearance on The Muppet Show, in which she sang “In My Life,” a Beatles song. In 1976, Twiggy signed to Mercury records and released the albums Twiggy and Please Get My Name Right, discs that contained both pop and country tunes. Twiggy sold very well, peaking on the UK charts at no.33, and gave Twiggy a silver disc for good sales. The album contains Twiggy’s top twenty hit single, “Here I Go Again”. “Please Get My Name Right” made it to no.35 in 1977.

In 1980 Twiggy made a cameo appearance in The Blues Brothers. She starred as Eliza Doolittle in 1981 opposite Robert Powell in the Yorkshire TV production of Pygmalion and in 1983, she made her Broadway debut in the musical, My One and Only, starring and co-staged by Tommy Tune, for which she earned a Tony nomination. In 1986 She played opposite to Robin Williams In the comedy “Club Paradise”. 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 second husband Leigh Lawson. In 1989, she was cast as Hannah Chaplin, mother to Charles, in the British television movie Young Charlie Chaplin; aired in the United States on PBS’ Wonderworks.

In 1991, she co-starred in her first American television series, the short-lived CBS sitcom Princesses. Of eight episodes completed, only five aired. In 1997, Twiggy acted in the Chichester Festival Theatre revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. A year later, she played Gertrude Lawrence in the biographical stage revue Noel and Gertie at Bay Street Theater 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. She starred as Gertrude Lawrence opposite Harry Groener’s Noel Coward.

In 2001, Twiggy co-hosted the British magazine programme This Morning. In 2003, she released another album, Midnight Blue. Seventeen of the CD’s 20 tracks had previously unreleased material from 1982–1990, including a duet with Leo Sayer, ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’ & a cover of the Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’. Feel Emotion and Diamond have both been released onto CD format since. 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 modeling, fronting a major television, press and billboard campaign for Marks & Spencer, the British department store chain. Her involvement in the advertising campaign has been credited for reviving Marks and Spencer’s fortunes. In 2006, she portrayed herself as a nineteen-year-old in the radio play Elevenses with Twiggy for BBC Radio 4′s Afternoon Play series. She did not return to America’s Next Top Model in its tenth season due to scheduling conflicts. Her replacement was model Paulina Porizkova.

Also in 2007, Sepia Records released a previously shelved album that Twiggy recorded in 1979, produced by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers. Heaven In My Eyes ["Discotheque"] contains the eight original tracks due to be released, plus four remixes by The Outsider. The album was also made available on iTunes. She is signed to London agency Models 1. In 2008, she supported the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside fellow celebrities — comedian Alan Carr, singer Natalie Imbruglia, actress Anna Friel and DJ & presenter Edith Bowman.

In the Summer of 2009, beauty company Olay debuted its “Definity Eye Cream” campaign depicting Twiggy.

Twiggy by: supermodelicons

Twiggy modeling and dancing!

After college she moved to Milan, where she settled with Marco Glaviano, a prominent fashion photographer at the time. When they decided to move operations to New York, her career blossomed. Yasmine was always best known for her flaming red, curly hair, and in turn did numerous hair advertisements and commercials as well as many skin and beauty jobs.

Yasmine was fortunate to work in all aspects of the business. Namely: print editorial, advertising, catalog, commercials and runway. Yasmine enjoyed her constant travels, which enabled her to buy a home at the age of 21 in Sag Harbor and retreat to the beach when she needed to relax.

In 1985 she married Georges Guenancia, owner of Cafe Un Deux Trois, and, at the time, Le Zinc, both popular “in” spots.
The couple bought a loft in Soho, had daughter Leila, and Yasmine opened a highly trendy and successful children’s clothing store in Soho, called Bebe Thompson.
This became her career for 18 years during which time son Chacho was born.
The family eventually moved to Westchester, where Yasmine is an avid bridge player and a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker in the Katonah Bedford area.

Yasmine~SMI

YasmineGuenancia.com

Kate Moss~SMI

April 2005 saw the launch of the Rimmel London mascara TV ad featuring a leather-clad Kate Moss riding a motorbike through London to the sound of the rock song “Another Cold Beer” by Steven Crayn.

Twelve months after her cocaine scandal, Moss made a comeback by bagging 18 top modeling contracts for the Autumn/Winter 2006 season: Rimmel, Agent Provocateur, Virgin Mobile, Belstaff, Beymen, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Longchamp, Stella McCartney, Bulgari, Chanel, Nikon, David Yurman, Versace, Mia Shvili, Calvin Klein Jeans and Burberry. Moss also agreed to make her first foray into the design world by designing a collection, in collaboration with Katy England, for Topshop. Moss launched a fragrance and body lotion range bearing her name in association with Coty in 2007.

According to Forbes, Moss has earned more money since her cocaine scandal than ever before: her 2004–2005 earnings were $5 million and her 2005–2006 earnings were $8 million. In 2007, with estimated earnings of $9 million, she was the second highest paid model in the world, behind Gisele Bündchen.

In November 2006, Moss won the Model of the Year prize at the British Fashion Awards, the top accolade in British fashion, but the award divided opinion and stirred fresh controversy.

On 27 September 2007, The Sun published a story entitled, “Kate Moss dumped by seven brands”, describing her “cocaine honeymoon” as fading away. The story continues by stating that in autumn 2006 she had eighteen contracts in comparison to 2007′s eleven, and that in 2006 fashion bible Vogue had six campaigns using Moss including Dior, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, but November 2007′s issue has none. The story concludes by saying that an industry source has said, “She is still very big but the honeymoon period has ended.”

Despite these press reports, Moss was later announced as the face of Donna Karan, Yves Saint-Laurent and Roberto Cavalli for spring 2008.

Despite all press reports and comments about her relevancy as a model, Moss frequently appears in advertising campaigns; most recently she appears in the Autumn 2008 advertising campaigns for Donna Karan Collection, Stella McCartney and Roberto Cavalli.

On 1 May 2007, a collection of clothes purported to be designed by Moss exclusively for the Topshop chain were launched across the UK in the chain’s 225 stores. A Kate Moss “countdown to launch” board filled a window of the company’s flagship Oxford Street store and on 30 April, Moss launched the clothing line at Topshop in Oxford Street, where she briefly appeared in the shop window modeling a red dress from the clothing collection just before the shop was opened, causing a media frenzy. Topshop has reportedly paid Moss £3 million for her work, which consists of choosing designs and then modeling them, as well as allowing her name to be used on the garments. With her name licensed to Topshop, Moss has been able to pursue other design opportunities. In early 2010 it was revealed that her name would be put to a range of handbags for luxury goods house Longchamp.

Moss has appeared in music videos such as “Kowalski” by Primal Scream, “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” by the White Stripes, “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” by Elton John, “Sex with Strangers” by Marianne Faithfull and “Delia’s Gone” and “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash.

She has also provided vocals for songs by Primal Scream (the 2003 version of “Some Velvet Morning”) and Babyshambles. Her vocals are featured on the Babyshambles song “La Belle et la Bête”, singing the line: “Is she more beautiful than me?” Prior to breaking up with Pete Doherty, Moss co-wrote four songs on Babyshambles’ second album Shotter’s Nation—”You Talk”, “French Dog Blues”, “Baddie’s Boogie”, and “Deft Left Hand”.

Moss has also DJ’d on more than one occasion at the Death Disco club with her friends Alan McGee and BP Fallon.

Moss is also known for her close friendships with many rock and roll icons and musicians such as Elton John, Mick Jones, Philip Colbert, Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Bobby Gillespie and Siobhan Fahey.

In 1999, Moss played a non-musical role in the British television comedy Blackadder: Back & Forth, appearing both as Maid Marian and as a fictional Queen of England “who looks good naked”.

Moss has also been the subject of portraits by contemporary artists such as Lucian Freud and Chuck Close. In 2005, a painting of Moss by Freud sold for £3.93 million at a Christie’s auction. Close has taken a series of daguerreotypes of Moss, which he has also translated into Jacquard tapestry.

On 8 May 2009, it was reported that Moss would begin writing an autobiography, published by Richard Branson who said the book would make “an interesting read.” It is reputed to have cost Branson £1 million.

Moss has been a supporter of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity, and in the 1990s featured in one of their target T-shirt campaigns. She also supported War Child. Moss also designed a charm in a necklace for Wallis in 2007 in aid of Cancer Research UK and said, “I am happy to give my support to help fund crucial research, as so many lives are affected by this terrible disease”.

She has also helped to launch the SamandRuby charity in March 2006. The charity was started to provide funding for the education and shelter of Thai children. The SamandRuby organisation is named after a friend of Moss’s, Samantha Archer Fayet, and her 6-month-old daughter Ruby Rose who were killed by the Tsunami while visiting Thailand. Moss also supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Hoping Foundation, the Lucie Blackman Trust, Make Poverty History, Comic Relief and Homes of Hope which her close friend Sadie Frost also supports.

On 22 November 2006, Moss recorded an appearance in a Little Britain sketch for Comic Relief at the Hammersmith Apollo as a character called Katie Pollard, sister of Vicky Pollard played by Matt Lucas.

Kate Moss has a daughter, Lila Grace Moss, born on 29 September 2002, with Dazed & Confused editor Jefferson Hack. She is also godmother to the two sons of The Clash member Paul Simonon and to Iris Law, the daughter of Sadie Frost and Jude Law. She is also close friends with British pop singer Lily Allen.

Kate Moss~SMI

Moss was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, London to Linda Rosina (Shepherd), a barmaid, and Peter Edward Moss, a travel agent. Kate has a younger brother named Mick and a half-sister and half-brother. Moss’s parents divorced when she was 13. She attended Ridgeway Primary School and Riddlesdown High School in Purley. She was not particularly noted for her academic success, although she did excel at sports.

Moss was discovered in 1988 at the age of 14 by Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm Model Management, at JFK Airport in New York City, after a holiday in The Bahamas. Moss’s career began when Corinne Day shot black-and-white photographs of her, styled by Melanie Ward, for British magazine The Face when she was 15, in a photo shoot titled “The Third Summer of Love”. Moss then went on to become the “anti-supermodel” of the 1990’s in contrast to the “supermodels” of the moment, such as Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell, who were known for their curvaceous and tall figures.

Moss ushered in the waif look in 1993 (which prompted much speculation over her weight) with a highly publicised campaign for Calvin Klein. Her depiction in photographs also drew criticism from then-President of the United States Bill Clinton, who spoke out against the growing heroin chic trend. When questioned about her weight, Moss commented: “It was just the time. It was a swing from more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford and people were shocked to see what they called a ‘waif’. What can you say? How many times can you say ‘I’m not anorexic’?” Moss found success in the industry despite being unusually short for a fashion model and has worked for many elite fashion lines.

In addition to being known for her modeling work, Kate Moss is also an international fashion icon. She has garnered many awards for her style, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s fashion influence award and a place on the Vanity Fair international best-dressed list. In the early part of the 21st century she was, together with actress Sienna Miller, one of the main proponents of boho-chic. She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2006 style issue. In the year of 2005–2006, her style was influenced by Rock and Roll. Due to her reputation, she is credited for setting numerous trends. In recent years, she has popularised denim cutoff shorts, Ugg boots, ballet flats, Vivienne Westwood Pirate Boots, skinny jeans, waistcoat, Alexander McQueen’s skull scarf, Louis Vuitton’s Sprouse Leopard Cashmere Scarf, and the Balenciaga handbag, as well as recently bringing high-waisted styles and waist-cinching belts back into popularity.

In 2008, Moss was added to PETA’s ‘Worst-Dressed’ Celebrities of 2008 because of her frequent use of fur.

Moss was voted 9th in Maxim’s “50 Sexiest Women of 1999″ and 22nd in FHM’s “100 Sexiest Women of 1995″. Men’s magazine Arena named her as their Sexiest Woman in their 150th issue. In March 2007, Moss won the Sexiest Woman NME Award. She made her first appearance in the British women’s Sunday Times Rich List in 2007, where she was estimated to be worth £45 million. She ranked as the 99th richest woman in Britain. In July 2007, earning an estimated total of $9 million in the past 12 months, Forbes magazine named her second on the list of the World’s 15 top-earning models list. In the 2009 Rich List, she was ranked as the 1348th richest person in the UK, with a net worth of £40 million.

Kate Moss~SMI

Auermann arrived in Paris in 1990, unsuccessfully signing with Karins Modeling Agency in the same year. In 1991, she signed with Elite Model Management. Auermann landed modeling gigs, but it wasn’t until she bleached her hair platinum blonde for a prêt-à-porter collection that her career took off. Everyone from Harper’s Bazaar to Vogue came crawling, as both magazines featured portfolios on the “it” girl in modeling. By 1994, Nadja (now donning a cropped haircut) was the model for runways and magazine photo spreads. This was made clear with a 26-page Neiman Marcus shoot in Harper’s Bazaar and consecutive Vogue photo shoots in 1994. With her image on the covers of the two thick fall fashion magazines, Auermann achieved a triumph equal to winning two legs of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. She had her picture taken for French Vogue, in addition to appearing in Benetton clothing advertisements.

Auermann has modeled for Versace, and she appeared in their classic ad photo in miniskirts along with Kristen McMenamy, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, and Stephanie Seymour. The ad was shot by Richard Avedon. In the following years, she was photographed by Ellen von Unwerth and appeared in and on the covers of numerous magazines.

In 1997, she had her first child with Olaf Björn, a daughter called Cosima. Two years later, she married German actor Wolfram Grandezka. The couple welcomed their first son, Nicolas, the same year and divorced a few years later.

The blue-eyed blonde believes one has to work to be beautiful. She has regular manicures, takes vitamins to strengthen her nails, and eats dessert only once a week. She said, My job is to be skinny.

In recent years, Auermann launched her own perfume (“Nadja Auermann”) and has begun acting, having been in two German-language films: Letztes Kapitel (2005) and Dornröschens Leiser Tod (2004). She is known throughout the world for her record-breaking long legs, which are 112cm (44″) long.

Romance-SMI