Twiggy Made Androgyny HOT (Andy Jean Heroes Series)

Androgyny is finally starting to develop a general identity. A collective outlook, like how gay men can look to Neil Patrick Harris for a out-and-proud attitude and lesbians can look to Ellen DeGeneres for a so-what-I'm-happy attitude. We don't have that yet, but we Andy Jeans want one. We're looking for heroes to emulate, and a general attitude to use as their own.

That's partly why I'm doing this Andy Jean Heroes series: To point out people whose cultural contributions are helping to create the modern Andy Jean attitude. One of those people was Twiggy, the legendary model of the 1960s. She was 31-23-32, had eyelashes out to there (fake, by the way), and a shortly-cropped haircut that every little boy dreams of...

But what sets Twiggy apart from most modern models, however, is just how grounded she was in her heyday. For an icon that was called "the face of '66", she kinda sorta didn't give a shite. I love what she said about the whirlwind of attention paid to her: "I hated what I looked like, so I thought everyone had gone stark raving mad."

Maybe everyone was stark raving mad for Twiggy, but nothing like her had ever been seen before. I mean look at her—femme cheekbones and eyes, but a wide forehead and fairly strong shoulders. Half the time here pictures are of an adorable pixie-like woman, but the other half look like they're of a drag punk who could easily kick your a*s. It's simply awesome, and it's hard to convey just how much this influenced the world of fashion.

I have to say though, as someone who payed her way through college partly through modeling, that I kinda resent Twiggy. Her success was one of the forces that made fashion obsessed with using thin models. She reportedly weighed about 110 lbs. (49.89 kg) around the height of her career, which at 5'6" (168 cm) wouldn't be considered healthy today. And let's be honest here: It's easier to dress someone as androgynous if they don't have larger breasts and a larger bum. But Twiggy kept her irreverent attitude throughout her career, even disavowing her thinner frame later in life, too. In a profile piece about her in the Guardian, she says she was "[m]uch too thin...I had a look – I can see that now – but I don't think I was beautiful." While acting as a judge on America's Next Top Model, Twiggy openly came out as an opponent of the modeling industry's tendency to use unhealthily thin models. As in models that starve themselves, not those that are just naturally slimmer like Miss Twig herself. As the diva Lady Gaga sings, she was just born that way. The fashion industry had its own priorities without her.

"Yeah, I got more femme as I got older. Bite me."

Twiggy kept her irreverent attitude throughout her career, which is why she makes the list of Andy Jean Heroes. She just did what she wanted, whether it was singing, writing books or having a cameo in The Blues Brothers. So why does Twiggy make the list of Andy Jean heroes? My favorite antic of hers was during a 1968 show, when she told a French waiter that she'd prefer he bring her a Coca-Cola to drink instead of red wine. At the time of her retirement from the fashion industry (after only four years!), she remarked, "You can't be a clothes hanger for your entire life."

Perhaps that's going to be the quintessential attitude of androgyny: the bugger-off-I-do-What-I-Want attitude. Twiggy has certainly promoted that attitude throughout her life: She eventually went back to modeling (in her golden years!), recorded an album with Bryan Adams, and acted (and sang!) on The Muppet Show. Not to mention the fact that she opened the way for models to play with gender, a trend that has continued into today with models like Agyness Deyn and Miss J. Twiggy's proved to be a role model of defiance and variance, with plenty of bugger-off to go around. Sounds like a perfect Andy Jean to me.