Pin up girls have been around for a lot longer than you think. Since as early as the 1890s girls have been drawn, painted and photographed and presented to the world as the ideal of beauty and sexuality. Like fashions in beauty and body shape, the pin up has changed enormously over the last century.(…)
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’(…)
During World War 2, the American Magazine for GI’s (called YANK would you believe?) featured a number of fabulous pin-ups to help boost morale of the troops. Many were big cinema stars like Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Ingrid Bergman (waving below) but, however famous, all of them were fabulous.
Jayne Mansfield was an iconic bombshell of the 50s and 60s and was known as the ‘Working Man’s Monroe‘. She was a master of self-publicity and pioneered the use of the wardrobe malfunction to raise her profile. “A forty-one inch bust and a lot of perseverance will get you more than a cup of coffee-a(…)
Famous singer and actress Fanny Brice from the time she was a Ziegfeld Follies girl, c. 1915
Ziegfeld Follies girl draped in velvet and long stings of pearls photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920s. Isn’t she lovely?
It’s strange I suppose, but I never really thought about Judy Garland as being sexy. I think my image of her was fixed at the point she played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, especially since I watched that movie so much growing up! These, however are undeniably smouldering publicity photos of her. Doesn’t she(…)
A saucy 1950s pin up from the cover of Flirt Magazine, April 1953. The painting was by Peter Driben.
Beautifully dressed pin-up girls waiting to be asked to dance at the NAS Seattle Spring Formal Dance in 1944. Who could resist such beautiful smiles? No wonder a dance with one of these ladies would raise the morale of the Navy!
1950s glamour girl and pin up Betty Brosmer who had the amazing hourglass figure of: 38-18-36 (inches). Her she has the most tiny waist, I know a lot more clothes were handmade in the fifties, but wow it would be hard to dress to figure like that off the peg! Source and copyright: BettyBrosmer.com Edited with BlogPad(…)
Pin up photo of Sherry Britton wearing a fabulous bikini dress from the December 1945 issue of Yank, the Army Weekly, a weekly U.S. Army magazine.
This photo of Betty Grable from 1943 was the most popular pin up photo for American GIs during WWII. You can see the other WWII pin ups here Source and copyright: This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or(…)
Norma Jean Dougherty (who later became Marilyn Monroe) photographed for US Army magazine YANK on June 26 1945. There’s no doubting that Norma Jean is very pretty but it’s hard to see how she transformed to the iconic star and pin up queen she became later… See other YANK pinup girls here
During World War 2 all of the big Hollywood stars posed for pin up photos to raise the morale of the troops. The official US Army magazine was called YANK (is it just me that finds that funny?) Lots of the big silver screen starlets of the time are here: Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Rita(…)
Pin up girls or cheesecake models have been popular since the early 20th century – here are my pick of my favourites and the most influential. Betty Grable Betty Grable was one of the most popular pin up girls during WW2. Famed for having the best legs in Hollywood her pin up photos were a(…)
The wonderful ‘Queen of Pinups’ Bettie Page who died on this day in 2008.
These are my 10 favourite pin up dresses! Whether you wear Rockabilly-style with tatoos and lots of attitude or cute and sexy with just a slick of red lipstick. I love all ten of these dresses. If I had to choose though think I would pick the With Only a Wink Dress. What do you(…)
I saw a newspaper article yesterday about student and part-time Burlesque dancer Nerina Orton and her tiny 15.7″ waist and it reminded me of 50s pin up and model Betty Brosmer. Her waist was 18″, which is definitely tiny, but it made me realise just how small Nerina’s waist is. Apparently the world record for(…)