ON THIS DAY SEPTEMBER 19 2023

This Day in History: September 19

Featured Event

1970







The first episode of the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired on American television; the groundbreaking series starred Mary Tyler Moore as a single independent working woman at a time when female characters were defined as the wife, girlfriend, or widow of a male counterpart.


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Featured Biography

Twiggy
British fashion model







Twiggy, original name Lesley Hornby, married name Dame Lesley Lawson, (born September 19, 1949, Neasden, London, England), British fashion model and actress whose gamine frame and mod look defined the fashion industry during much of the late 20th century. She is widely considered to have been one of the world’s first supermodels—a top fashion model who appears simultaneously on the covers of the world’s leading fashion magazines and is globally recognized by first name only.



Twiggy
Twiggy’s father was employed as a carpenter, and her mother was a factory worker. Twiggy attended a high school for girls and in 1965, at age 15, while working as an assistant in a London hair salon, she met hairdresser Nigel Davies (later known as Justin de Villeneuve), who called her “Twigs” because of her thin frame. The following year, he spearheaded her physical transformation—pairing a short boyish bob with big darkly lined eyes and false eyelashes. Twiggy’s adolescent physique was ideal for the rising hemlines and unisex patterns that were then in vogue, and her overall look distinguished her from the curvaceous, glamorous top models of the era. After spotting her photograph on a salon wall, a fashion journalist for the Daily Express newspaper interviewed her and published an article featuring her—christened Twiggy—as “The Face of ’66,” and she was subsequently voted British Woman of the Year. Twiggy began modeling extensively, quickly gaining international recognition, and her appearance on the cover of the U.S. edition of the leading fashion magazine Vogue (April 1967) heralded her rise to fame. Twiggy was soon considered iconic of the decade, and her name was marketed as a brand in connection with a string of products including a Twiggy doll.


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