WRITTEN ON November 17th, 2009 BY Bec AND STORED IN Community, The Design Office

Twiggy ©1966 Barry Lategan

Yesterday, by chance I was fortunate to meet the renowned photographer Barry Lategan whilst viewing his famous photograph of Twiggy - the very image in fact, which propelled her to stardom as ‘the face of 66′.

On introducing himself, Mr Lategan began telling us and a couple of other captivated visitors at the NPG a story of how he had heard the young Lesley Hornby’s boyfriend refer to her as ‘Twigs’ whilst they were at his studio back in 1966 - because she was so skinny. He told us he had insisted that if she was to go professional she should keep using the name Twiggy! He then proceeded to show us his notebooks full of original prints and press cuttings from this time.

Following a friendly chat, Barry very kindly agreed to allow us to take his picture and to use it in our blog, and we exchanged business cards.

I had been looking forward to seeing this exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and had already earmarked this very picture for use in our blog. What a pleasure to have met such a celebrated photographer!

The exhibition Twiggy: A Life in Photographs celebrates the 6oth birthday of one of the best-known models of all time and is well worth a look. It is on at the National Portrait Gallery until 21 March 2010 - admission is free.