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Twiggy: Who’d have thought that one of the best films of the week would be the documentary about a British ’60s fashion icon?
Born Lesley Hornby, in 1949, this quick trip through her life and career benefits greatly from having plenty of archive footage from her beginnings in 1966, including how her first ever picture is her most famous (below), and although she now lives in a huge house, she never planned out her career – everything just sort-of… happened.
And against type, too, since the late ’60s saw “the bosom is back”, yet she confirms she didn’t really have one, and was also too short and too thin, whilst having boyish looks. Still, she had her own fashion range and became an intentional star, as well as having her own self-titled TV show in 1975, singing and dancing with guests, working with director Ken Russell on The Boy Friend in 1971, and later guesting on Bing Crosby’s Christmas Special to sing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, recorded in September 1977, just before he travelled to Spain, and then died from a fatal heart attack on October 14th, hence when the programme went out, he was no longer with us to see it.
David Bowie even name-checked her in 1973’s Drive-In Saturday – as Twig The Wonder-Kid – before she appeared alongside him for the cover of Pin Ups, later the same year.
It’s good to note that Twiggy has had a long marriage to Leigh Lawson since 1988, given that she dated a man, who called himself Justin de Villeneuve and was around 10 years her senior, when she was just 15… And he came after her former boyfriend dumped her for a scooter, as he couldn’t afford both at the same time!
Overall, despite the brief running time of 94 minutes, this documentary, directed by Sadie Frost (Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance), is hugely entertaining and well worth a watch if it’s still on at the cinema in your town, although it did only get a limited release. However, it was made in association with the BBC, so will probably pop up on there before too long.
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credit scenes.
Twiggy is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Release date: March 7th 2025
Studio: Studio Soho Distribution
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: 8/10
Director: Sadie Frost
Producers: Nick Hamson, Simon Jones
Music: Mara Carlyle
Cast (as themselves):
Twiggy
Dustin Hoffman
Joanna Lumley
Paul McCartney
Stella McCartney
Sienna Miller
Tommy Tune
Brooke Shields
Robert Powell
Pattie Boyd
Joy Crookes
Poppy Delevingne
Fran Drescher
Edward Enninful
Mindy Grossman
Tim Hutton
Leigh Lawson
Lulu
James MacMillan
Tony McGee
Deirdre McSharry
Suzy Menkes
Terry Newman
Erin O’Connor
Miquita Oliver
David Puttnam
Patsy Puttnam
Rankin
Zandra Rhodes
Steve Sharp
Alexandra Shulman
Wayne Sleep
Amy Wadge
Carly Wiggins
Jonathan Yeo
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.