BEST OF BRITISH I'm remembered as a fashion icon but I was only really modelling for about four years. I stopped when I was 20, to focus on acting and singing, which I did for many years. I've been lucky enough to have been given the lead roles in films and the theatre, and I've presented quite a few television shows. I've also released several albums and had hit singles. [Life] gets quite mad sometimes but I like to keep busy. When I got offered a [modelling] contract with Marks & Spencer, about five years ago, it was too good to turn down. I thought it would be a one-off job but I'm still one of their 'girls'. Britain has been at the forefront of quality fashion since I was a girl in the 60s. There are some awesomely talented British designers, such as Christopher Bailey, Matthew Williamson, good old Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and poor, dear Alexander McQueen. They push the boundaries. I also like American designers, but they're much more traditional. In Asia, I have to say that Japan has the edge. I love Tokyo's Shibuya area. It's like London's Kings Road in that it's got some amazing young designers and fabulous boutiques.
DRESSING UP You shouldn't wear a mini skirt if you're over 29 - unless you look like Kate Moss. There are certain clothes and styles that women of a certain age should consign to memory or their photo albums. Another big no-no is hot pants - they are very much on trend this season in the UK for the young - and I emphasise 'the young'. I don't want to see middle-aged women in hot pants, neither should they be revealing too much flesh. Flappy bingo wings [the fleshy part under the arms] should definitely be covered up and older women wearing low-cut tops and showing lots of cleavage is wrong. It's not because I'm jealous, I may have had pancake boobs in the 60s when I weighed 6? stone [41kg], but I've got a cleavage now I weigh 8? stone. That doesn't mean I need to go flashing it about. I love to cook and eat but I eat healthily and I always buy organic produce. I keep fit by going to tap-dancing classes, which was something I started when I was rehearsing for my part Polly Browne in Ken Russell's musical The Boy Friend in 1971. I also do Pilates classes, for my dodgy back.
MOTHER OF INVENTION My mum taught me to sew when I was a girl and I still do it. There's nothing I love more than locking myself in a room with my sewing machine and some fabric and a pattern. I find it calming and relaxing - it's my stress-buster. I was all set to go to college to study design before fate decided to intervene [Twiggy - born Lesley Hornby - was 'discovered' at the age of 16, in 1966, and became an overnight success as one of the world's first supermodels]. I have recently designed a collection for [British retail company] Littlewoods. My daughter, Carly, models my designs with me and she also works in the design department for Stella McCartney. I've also just launched a line for the Home Shopping Network in America, which has 90 million viewers. I work with a design team but I'm very hands-on. That takes up most of my time at the moment.
SWISH NEW LOOK [Television show] Twiggy's Frock Exchange came about a couple of years ago, when the BBC was doing lots of fashion programmes and approached me about presenting a show. I'd heard about the swishing parties in America, which I thought were such a brilliant idea, especially with the recession looming. 'Swishing' is what the Americans call clothes-swapping. We shot the whole series in one week, which was quite hectic. The funniest thing was having 90 women in a room full of clothes; it was mayhem and such a laugh - amazingly there were no punch-ups. There was one very stylish woman in her 70s who'd brought clothes from the 1950s and 60s, and the teenagers went wild about them. They loved the fact these 'retro-look' clothes were actually the real thing. And it was lovely seeing the older woman showing the young girls how to wear them. Fashion should be about fun - and you can have fun at any age.
IN THE FAMILY I swap clothes with my daughter. She gets first dibs at my cast-offs, then my two sisters - Shirley, who's 15 years older, and Vivien, who's seven years older - then my friends, then my friends' friends, then the charity shops. You should never throw things away - one woman's cast-offs are another woman's haute couture. I'd love to swap clothes with Barbara Hulanicki, the creator of clothes store Biba [a 60s-70s hangout for the likes of The Rolling Stones and David Bowie]. She is my style icon. I was buying Biba clothes when I was 14 then we met when I started modelling and we became great friends - we still are. She should be credited for inventing teenage fashion because before her, there weren't really any styles for teens. British fashion owes her a huge thank you and I don't think she gets the recognition she deserves. She's still going strong; she's just created a range for [British high-street chain] Top Shop.
BIRTHDAY SUITS I celebrated my 60th birthday last year but I didn't mind. What's the point in getting fed up because you're having another birthday? It's a fact of life: you're born, you live and you grow old. My advice is to find what you like about yourself and go with it. Find ways of enhancing the good bits and camouflaging the bad bits. All you can do is look after yourself. And there are good things about getting old: I don't suffer fools gladly; I do the things I want to do and not what I think I ought to; I don't worry about pleasing people all the time and I'm not scared of them anymore, whereas when I was young I was so timid. I'm happily married [to actor Leigh Lawson] and we have a great family [Twiggy's daughter is from her first marriage and Lawson has a son from a previous relationship]. Last year, I wrote a book about how to look good in your 30s, 40s and 50s because I believe getting older doesn't mean giving up on style and individuality, and looking good is not about looking young.
