pinup

Risqué Nose Art from WW2 Bombers (NSWF)

Risqué Nose Art from WW2 Bombers (NSWF)

Nose art on airplanes first became popular during WW1 when German airmen (or rather their ground-crews) started painting a mouth and teeth onto nose cones, rather like Moby Dick below. In fact a shark-face design is still painted on nose-cones of military aircraft today. During World War II the military didn’t allow nose-art, but was(…)

Pin Up Girls: A Brief History

Pin Up Girls: A Brief History

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.(…)

Pin Up Pioneers: Miss Fernande (NSFW)

Pin Up Pioneers: Miss Fernande (NSFW)

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’(…)

WWII pin up photo of Sherry Britton

WWII pin up photo of Sherry Britton

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.

Betty Grable’s famous WWII pinup

Betty Grable’s famous WWII pinup

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(…)

The pin up girl – 7 of the best

The pin up girl – 7 of the best

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(…)

Pin up girl Bettie Page

Pin up girl Bettie Page

The wonderful ‘Queen of Pinups’ Bettie Page who died on this day in 2008.

The 10 best pin up dresses

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(…)

50s pin up Betty Brosmer and Nerina Orton (and the trend for tiny waists)

50s pin up Betty Brosmer and Nerina Orton (and the trend for tiny waists)

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(…)