Reluctantly, Twiggy elevated her image by complementing her elfin-like features and huge blue eyes with a pixie hairdo, a distinctive design that has been replicated over the decades.

Though she altered the fashion industry with her young style, the famed cover girl recently claimed that she didn’t want the androgynous buzz that characterized the appearance of the Swinging Sixties and that she was just too bashful to turn down the services of a prominent hairdresser at a “posh salon.”

On September 19, Twiggy celebrates her 74th birthday, so we’re bringing you back to the 1960s, when she initially influenced the iconic baby doll fashions we see today!

Twiggy, born Lesley Hornby in the United Kingdom, was seeking a fashionable new style to help begin her career in 1966. The competitive fashion world told the aspiring young model, standing at 5’6″, that she was too short to compete.

The former supermodel, who turns 74 on September 19, remembers having her shoulder-length hair groomed for some test “head shots” at London’s House of Leonard and meeting the legendary British stylist, Leonard Lewis (professionally known as Leonard of Mayfair).

Lewis was seeking models to test his new crop haircut.

In a recent guest appearance on Jessie Ware’s podcast, “Table Manners,” the former style star admitted that she has never liked her hair chopped short.

“I went in to have it shampooed and set, and Leonard saw me, and he said, ‘Let me do my new haircut on you.'” Twiggy said Ware on the podcast. “I had been growing my hair, and for a moment I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want my hair cut.'” However, I was at an expensive salon in Mayfair, and I was too nervous to express my disinterest, so I simply nodded.

The next day, Twiggy went to the salon and sat in Lewis’ chair, bracing herself for what was to come.

“I returned the next day and stayed in there for seven hours while he cut it, after which I went out and had it colored and re-cut. “Oh, it was crazy,” she remarked, laughing.

Even though Twiggy wasn’t looking for an androgynous appearance, she could see why Lewis was so well-known as a stylist.

After refining her golden blonde cut, Lewis hired British photographer Barry Lategan to capture Twiggy.

“Leonard put it up in the salon, and a journalist saw it,” Twiggy claimed, alluding to Daily Express fashion reporter Deirdre McSharry, who, while having Lewis do her hair, saw Twiggy’s bravery in the images. “That’s how everything happened…” The critical moment occurred when the haircut began and that shot was taken.

The pixie cut accentuated her huge blue eyes, which she accented with mascara on her bottom lashes.

Twiggy told Vogue, “I was also constantly playing around with make-up at home.” I had a ragdoll with spiky eyelashes, so I got fake eyelashes for myself and developed what became known as my ‘look.'”

The former supermodel also admitted that when she wasn’t at school, she rebelled by wearing cosmetics and miniskirts to mod clubs on Saturday nights with her pals.

“I attended a grammar school, which was quite rigorous.” The school required us to wear uniforms and prohibited the use of cosmetics. So, on weekends, my friends and I would sit and experiment with cosmetics, like most adolescent females do. She went on, “And that’s how that makeup evolved.”

And the eyes became part of her unique style.

A few weeks after the session for the Daily Express, numerous photos—now classic black-and-white shots that began her modeling career—along with the headline “Twiggy: The Face Of ’66” emerged on the paper’s pages.

The following month, she participated in her first Vogue shoot, leading to a dramatic transformation in her life.

Twiggy, the classic mod fashion icon, was a role model for many women, and while still in her teens, she became the first celebrity to be utilized as a template for a Twiggy Barbie.

The groundbreaking British designer Mary Quant, who revolutionized fashion by introducing low hemlines that freed the feminine leg, became associated with Twiggy.

Twiggy quit in 1970 after only a few years of modeling to pursue theater and movie acting, as well as singing.

Her film credits include prominent parts in The Boy Friend (1971), which garnered her two Golden Globes, and Club Paradise (1986), in which she co-starred with the late Robin Williams.

The America’s Next Top Model judge also worked on a Marks & Spencer-exclusive fashion collection and appeared in various billboard advertisements.

In 2011, she published the album “Romantically Yours,” which includes cover songs such as “Blue Moon,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Right Here Waiting.” Her only daughter, Carly Lawson (born 1978), performs as a guest vocalist on a few tunes.

The attractive woman is still a fashion leader, having served as a L’Oreal ambassador and designer for other brands.

The diva is currently keeping busy with her podcast, Tea with Twiggy, in which she has personal conversations with her famous pals once a week.

Despite her many accomplishments, Twiggy, one of the most known faces of her time, believes her success can only be judged by the love she has with her amazing daughter.

After her father, actor Michael Witney, died at the age of 52 during her fifth birthday party, Carly was raised by her mother and second husband, Leigh Lawson, whom Twiggy married in 1988.

“My top priority is family. Family has always been my top priority, even when Carly was younger. If it didn’t work for Carly, I didn’t do it,” said Twiggy, a grandma. “We traveled everywhere together, which is why we are so close now. She said, “I can’t remember a time you weren’t there, Mum,” because I was always there. Even when I traveled, she accompanied me.

Many ladies covet Twiggy’s ability to pull off the 1960s pixie cut! She looked—and still looks— stunning!