Miss Fernande was arguably the very first photographic pin up star. Born during the 1890s in Paris, the lovely Fernande was a model and prostitute who posed for nude and semi-nude photographs for photographer Jean Agelou during the 1910s and 20s.

Her exact identity remains a mystery. Only ever known by the moniker ‘Miss Fernande’ she was rumoured to be any one of a number of famous Fernandes living in Paris at that time including Fernande Olivier (Pablo Picasso’s first lover) and Fernande Barrey (artist and wife of Tsuguharu Foujita).

We just don’t know though, there were a lot of women with that name in Paris at that time and she could have been any one of them.

What we do know is that she enterprisingly stamped her name and hotel address on the back of the saucy postcards bearing her image and would leave them in cafes in Paris. She did very well out of it indeed, and was particularly popular with American soldiers. During the First World War many soldiers on both sides of the conflict had French Postcards of Miss Fernande and her welcoming smile to keep them company in the trenches.

You can see lots more photos of the lovely Miss Fernande and her saucy photographs here.

Image source and copyright: 1, 2, 4, The author died in 1921, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 90 years or less.  3, This image of text is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it is not a “literary work” or other protected type in sense of the local copyright law. Facts, data, and unoriginal information which is common property without sufficiently creative authorship in a general typeface or basic handwriting, and simple geometric shapes are not protected by copyright.
Source 1, 2