This small exhibition is currently taking place just upstairs from ‘Beatles To Bowie’ at London’s National Portrait Gallery and is a review of images of Twiggy to celebrate her 60th birthday.

It starts with the iconic photograph which propelled her to stardom, when, at the age of 16, a magazine editor sent her to have her hair styled at House of Leonard. Leonard asked photographer Barry Lategan to capture an image of the model with her new crop which he displayed in his salon. There, it was spotted by Deirdre McSharry, fashion editor of the ‘Daily Express’, who reproduced the photograph in her paper, dubbing Twiggy ‘The Face of ’66’ and effectively launching her career.

The exhibition charts Twiggy’s progress from gamine, Bambi-eyed teenager to a national treasure who is credited with turning around Marks & Spencer’s falling sales when she was recruited to their ad campaign a few years ago. Although she officially retired from fashion modelling in 1970 to focus on her acting and singing career, Twiggy returned to it in 1993 for a shoot for Italian ‘Vogue’ and there is no doubt that the camera loves her features; the black and white image in Garboesque pose taken by Mary McCartney in 1995 is ample proof that if anything, she has become more beautiful as she has matured.

There are images on display by well-known photographers such as Bryan Adams, Brian Aris and Annie Leibovitz, as well as reproductions of magazine covers and the 1973 sleeve of David Bowie’s ‘Pin Ups’ album, on which she features with the singer himself. Some of the images are supplied from Twiggy’s own archive and she has also written all the captions for the exhibition.

I would have loved to have seen more memorabilia – perhaps some of the clothes she’s worn during her modelling days – as well as more portraits (there must be thousands!) on display. This little exhibition offers a tantalising glimpse of her career, but does feel like a wasted opportunity. However, if you’re going to see ‘Beatles To Bowie’, it’s a free addition and well worth the walk upstairs.

‘Twiggy: A Life In Photographs’ runs until 21st March 2010. For more information, please visit: http://www.npg.org.uk/

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