Twiggy… omg

[Newsenmum]

I knew she was skinny but I never knew how bad it was! Looking at those photos of her in the 60s is painful.Why do we do this to ourselves? Have we done this since time began?

I was just reading how in the Victorian times there was another skinny phase where women liked to look skinny and weak like they’d had TB. Awful!

Does anyone know if it’s ever been fashionable to be healthy?

Marilyn Monroe's 7 year itch dress didn't fit the size 2 mannequin in the States. They brought in a child's mannequin.

On average she was 118lbs and 5'5. She was very thin just had hips and boobs.

It's a way to control women, I mean, I realise some women are naturally that thin, but not many, I dont buy into it, never have done

It wasn't fashionable to be skinny, as in being tubercular, in Victorian times. Well padded, but with curves was the fashion.

She was thin.

I have vintage clothes that belonged to relatives from the 50's and 60's and they are tiny. 22" waists were normal in those days. I'm a size 8 and can barely fit into them. I think body shapes have changed dramatically on average, and Twiggy didn't look as skinny then as she does now, because being larger is now seen as normal, which is not a good thing in my view.

Back in the 70s at 17 I was called Olive Oil, Pirate ( because of my sunken chest) dad called me linnet (because of my bird like legs) You're getting the picture I'm sure, I was very skinny. I ate like a horse, made no difference. Sadly, it hasn't lasted, my big treat for Friday night is a packet of low calorie crisps and 6 jelly babies and I'm still massively over weight

6-8 US is U.K. 10-12.

I don’t think she was unusual for fashion/runway. Vlada (below) was similar, if not smaller, and there are plenty of other examples.

Very unhealthy looking IMO

Corsets make all the difference. And nutrition changes/ being taller now, but I do think the fact that a lot of women were still wearing quite tight shape wear in the 1950s is an important factor.

I remember feeling very inadequate reading about MM’s supposed 22 inch waist when I was a teenager.

I knew this thread would be chock full of little ‘uns bigging themselves up. Well done I guess?

She did always look skinny though. And runway models still look like that now!

@Rosscameasdoody There is a costume museum in LA. They have a dress belonging to MM. size 14 - absolutely not. Size 8 probably by today’s standards. The dress really was surprisingly small. No female movie stars have any size at all. Nicole Kidmans outfit they have from Moulin Rouge was minuscule.

I think two things can be true at once: Twiggy was naturally thin (she was only a teenager) and that most women would be unhealthy if they had '60s Twiggy proportions.

Yep.

Apart from the dictionary definition - partly male, partly female - it is a fashion term, and very much a seventies term, when androgynous male pop stars like Bowie were all the rage.

In this context, an androgynous female - like Twiggy - does not have pronounced curves, typical of females. She is boyish, as such.

I think a better word is 'gamine'.

The camera adds ten pounds and all that. A lot of actors are surprisingly short too.

And have large heads.

I agree. Also, ‘eating healthily’ is doing something to yourself. Eating rock crust pizza, a double cheeseburger and two sides of onion rings and chips and finishing off with a milkshake not going an ounce is naturally thin IMO. DD is Twiggy shape but she isn’t 17 yet but she is very self disciplined. Her friend is very thin and her Mum is always commenting on how it is natural but in reality the Mum is very controlling with food and makes comments that allude to being a bit of a pig if you want a normal sized portion.

Literally and figuratively

If you see that as someone bigging themselves up that's a you problem.

It's incredibly damaging when people try to claim that skinny or slim people must be starving themselves or torturing themselves for hours in the gym, then when teens think they want to lose a little bit of weight they start to starve themselves and then the dieting cycle begins.

This is her modelling card. She had a 24” waist. Size 12 US in the 1950s. What size is that in current UK sizes?

@Goldenbear you're making me hungry! God I'd love some onion rings now!

God knows why there is a picture of a printer in my previous post!