My Monday Morning: Twiggy

0:07Hi, I'm Twiggy, and this is my Monday morning.

0:15Twiggy is one of the most iconic models of all time. She's the face of 66, the famous doe-eyed pixie girl. She's got a new biographical documentary about to come out in the U.S., and it covers her meteoric rise as a model, and how she left modeling after just a few years to act, sing, and raise her daughter. For her Monday morning, Twiggy told me about making her documentary, the many tuxedos in her closet, and the unusual secret to her success. We'll get right into it after this break.

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2:09Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support the show by saying you heard about Indeed here. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. I'm so excited to be talking to you today for my Monday morning. And congratulations on this documentary, which is so fantastic. Thank you. I'm so glad you liked it. It's a peculiar sensation for me because it's my life. And to see your life up on the big screen is mixed emotions, as you can imagine. What was the mix for you? Oh, my goodness. Well, the first time I saw a first cut, I think I cried through most of it because, you know, there's footage of my mum and dad, who obviously are no longer with us.

3:04There's footage of my daughter, Carly, as a little girl, and now she's a grown woman with children of her own. I mean, we're very close still, but just to see her that young. And, you know, the sad parts of my life were all in the documentary as well as the funny and nice parts. So it was very mixed emotions. I mean, there were so many clips that were just so special. Like, I loved seeing you on Broadway in my one and only. That pool scene was fantastic. Yeah, that's the happy part. For me, professionally, that's, for me, my favorite part of my career, I think. But I've loved everything I've done.

3:48but to actually appear on Broadway in a big hit musical was absolutely magical. You were, of course, called the face of 66. What did the 60s mean to you? Well, you know, when you're living in a time, I didn't think at the time, oh, this is an amazing time because it was just part of my life. I was 16 years old. I was a schoolgirl before that all happened to me. so it was as much a shock to me when you know I was discovered as to the rest of the world because I didn't look like any other model as you can see in the documentary I was too small I was 15 if I'd have gone to a model agency they would have said go away you had to be five foot eight or taller I was five foot six you had to be certain measurements and I was as you can see I I was minute, this tiny little thing.

4:43You know, I was 16. You were so young when you became famous, 16, like you've said. I was wondering, how has your relationship to fame changed throughout your career? I think it happened to me so young. A lot of it kind of went over my head. It was like, it was so mad. Three months of being discovered and being on the front of all the British papers. I was in Paris doing the Paris collection for Elle magazine. And then American Vogue. and sometimes it was a bit scary. I mean, I got mocked at one point and I thought I was going to get a squawk. And I remember that the photographer that I was working with, Melvin Sikorski, he'd hired a bodyguard for me, which I thought, oh, you know, I don't need a bodyguard.

5:26I'll be fine. And thank God he did because, you know, the crowd closed in and he picked me up under his arm like a bundle and ran me through the crowd and got me to the car. We had a limo at the roadside. And he threw me through the window. And I remember landing on the floor of the limo. And I'm saying, I want my mama. I was 17. And a very, very naive and young 17. I'm not like, I meet 17-year-olds today and they're so sophisticated. One thing that you talk about in the documentary, as well as in previous interviews, is that you never had a plan. I was wondering, was never having a plan like almost the secret to your success?

6:12Probably. Yeah. I mean, I was 16. I was at school. So I didn't plan to do that. That's just what I looked like. Somebody saw me. Somebody cut my hair. A journalist saw. And as I said earlier, I was as shocked as everybody else. I thought they'd gone mad. And so, you know, it was a shock more than anything, I think. But when it happened, as I say, it rollercoasted so fast You know, when it happened in London And then I was in Paris And then I went to New York via the line of Vreeland And I mean, I got to work with, you know By the time I was 20 I'd worked with all the greats, Norm Parkinson I decided I wanted to pursue my performing career and because when you do something like a film, you know, you get offered other work.

7:10So I kind of stopped modeling by choice. There's also a clip in the documentary of this interview that's now become very famous of Woody Allen interviewing you and I'm going to briefly describe it for listeners who might not know about it. In it, he asks you about who your favorite philosopher is and you can't name one, But then you turn the question around on him and ask him the same thing. And he also isn't able to name one. I forgot one. I don't know. I do. Who's yours? Oh, I, you know, I like, I like them all. Oh. What was it? What was it like for you? Everyone says to me, you, you know, you were so clever.

7:53You were so, I wasn't. I was panic stricken because that was done in front of an audience. You know, and I. Oh, wow. I was just 17 years old. I was very, you can probably see, I was quite shy. You know, it was weird what had happened to me. So I was still kind of getting used to that. And I was used to people, when I did interviews, I was used to people saying, how did you get your name? Or what do you eat? You know, what do you think of New York? Or what, you know, those sort of questions. So when he opened with, who's your favourite philosopher? Oh my God. And I remember, I can remember the feeling to this day, my stomach, I was like, oh, my God, because I didn't know any philosophers.

8:39And I thought all I could think was don't cry, don't cry, because there's an audience there. But all I wanted to do was leave. I didn't want to be there. And so in my panic, I kind of looked at him and said, give me some of that and you know I don't because I said I think I don't know any and he said oh come on everyone's got a favourite philosopher and I said well who's yours and he says something like you're Greeks and you're Romans or whatever and I said yeah but what their names and he says you're Greeks and you're like yeah and he couldn't and he couldn't really either but apparently that clip has gone viral I've been told very viral looking back on it do you see it as a feminist moment i think that's how a lot of young women who have discovered it it wasn't planned but it is quite it's quite a showing moment i think but um it wasn't my it wasn't my favorite moment at the time as you could have noticed you know i was kid i was this young kid who'd been thrown into this mad world of fame and And it was bizarre.

9:52After the break, Twiggy talks about what she wears to feel powerful.

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11:34is there anything that you do on a monday to set yourself up for success or prevent yourself from having a bad week that's a tricky question for me because i don't live a nine to five or you know weekend week weekly existence because of what i do every week is different every day is different I often don't know what I'm doing from one week to the next. So I don't have a special Monday morning routine. I try. It's quite hard, but I try and live in the moment and focus on what I'm doing that day or that week. Is there a time that you like to be up by and what do you kind of do first thing after waking up?

12:18Luckily, I'm a really good sleeper. I love my sleep. I can sleep, I usually sleep between eight and eight and a half hours a night. I usually have herbal tea with cereal. And I'll try and put walnuts and blueberries on because I read somewhere if you mix blueberries and walnuts, it's really good for your tummy. And then I'll go and have a shower or a bath. Us Brits love to have a bath. We like to soak, especially in the winter. It's nothing nicer than getting into a lovely smelling hot bath and soap. And then whatever I'm doing, you know, it depends what I'm doing, but that's my early routine.

13:00What do you like to do for exercise? I do Pilates once a week, which I love, because about 15 years ago I had a kind of muscular problem with my lower back and I was told by my chiropractor that you've got to start Pilates because it's building, you know, the inner strength. And so I started then and I recommend Pilates to everyone. I wish I'd have started in my 20s, but I didn't. It's changed my life, actually. It's brilliant. And even if I can't go to class, I've got enough exercises now that I can do at home. So if I'm feeling a bit stressed or a bit tight, I know what to do now. And I walk a lot.

13:49So I'm not fanatical. I don't do anything too over the top. But for my age and the way I feel, the Pilate is magical. And one of the things that the documentary recounts is that you famously created your look with three pairs of false eyelashes on top and then these spiky eyelashes on the bottom that were inspired by a rag doll. What does your beauty routine look like these days? Oh, well, obviously I don't wear all those eyelashes. I was very young, as you know. I was 16 and all that happened to me. Like most teenage girls, I think even today, you know, we played around with makeup and that was the makeup that I created.

14:30But today I tend to, I never, ever go to bed in makeup. That is the biggest no-no ever. I never have and I never will. so when I get up I just you know make sure my face is clean, I just clean it with water I don't use soap on my face and then I've got quite dry skin so I moisturise quite well and then if I'm at home I don't put makeup on if I'm just me or with my husband or my kids and grandkids I just go all natural but if I'm working or going out you can see what I've got It's this eyeshadow, mascara. I like doing the blue in the eye there. And a little bit of base, a little bit of rouge, a little bit of lippy.

15:20That's me done. I'm very fast. I can put makeup on in 10 minutes. One thing that the documentary makes really clear is that you're a fashion icon. Do you feel like an icon? How does it? Not really. It always makes me laugh, actually. But it's very flattering. I love apart from my performing career I love designing and making clothes so if I know I've got a free week I'll put my head to that and get out of my sewing machine and make things so that's my hobby really You sew clothing yourself Oh yeah, I'm pretty good actually If I don't get another job I can do that But over the last few years I've done a few collections I love clothes And I think women of every age should have great choice to do.

16:15And I think there's a lot of women of my age group and around my age group, you know, in their 50s, 60s, 70s, who want to look stylish. You want to be, they do want to look like they're 18, obviously, but they, you know, they want to look cool. And that's what I try to do when I design. When you're designing, where do you get your inspiration from? I personally love tailored clothing and I love the square shoulders we get from the 1940s after the war. And I get inspiration from lots of things. But usually I tend to design the things I wear because then I get one and I can wear it. Well, one of the questions I wanted to ask you was what do you like to wear when you want to feel powerful or your best?

17:03That kind of thing. I tend to wear, I'm a trouser girl at heart. I very, very rarely wear dresses. I love, if you look back, if you look at my first album cover, for instance, my first recording, which was in the 70s, I'm wearing a white tuxedo trouser suit, like a man's suit. I had them made at an English tailor's. And that's kind of gone through my life. I tend to wear great trousers suits and great colours. I've just bought one, actually, that's bright purple with both in the sleeves and big trousers. They're great. And I'm not very good in high heels, so with trousers you can wear. I love cowboy boots and I love sneakers, great colour sneakers.

17:54I'm semi-casual, really. I'd hate to go somewhere feeling overdressed. It wouldn't be uncomfortable. I'd rather be slightly underdressed. Do you have a favorite clothing item of yours of all time? Probably if I had to pick anything, because it may not be the original one, but I've always had a black tuxedo suit, man's tuxedo suit in my closet. Well, I've got a few, actually. Some that I've designed, some that I've had. I just think they're so classy and so classic. And if we're going to an evening do, if I can't find a dress or something, I feel comfortable in. I'll put on my very chic black tuxedo with a bow tie.

18:39I love it. Classic. And then the last question I always like to ask people is, do you have a piece of advice that's guided or been important to you in life? I think the best advice I've been given and that I always give to other people is be kind to people because if you're kind you get it back and I wish it was happening more in the world kindness seems to have gone out the window in many parts of the world which is you know very very upsetting for everybody especially the people living through it So I think, you know, try and be kind and understanding, really. Well, thank you so much for your interview and congratulations again on this documentary.

19:30It was so fun chatting with you about it. Thank you. My Monday Morning is part of The Journal, which is a co-production of Spotify Studios and The Wall Street Journal. I'm Lane Florsheim and we'll be back in October with another episode of My Monday Morning. follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on Instagram at Lane Florsheim for more behind the scenes stuff from my Monday morning and to let me know what you think of the show this episode was produced by Jivika Verma and edited by Catherine Brewer and Sarah Platt video production by Nathan Singapak original music by Nathan Singapak thanks so much for joining us

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21:17Bites me slow when network is busy. See terms.