OUGD401 THE PIN-UP GIRL HISTORY

Based on the research I undertook earlier, I have complied my own version of the history of pin-up girls.

The most basic, original form of the pin-up girls originated in the 1890's as a result of women being forced to repress their freedom of expression. Parisian artist, Jules Cheret, started the craze by exhibiting young and voluptuous women in posters and magazines.

Early in the 20th Century, women were often drawn doing ordinary tasks. Pin-up girls were created with eroticism, although always appearing "wholesome" and a "good girl". Leading artists such as Alberto Vargas and George Petty used their imagination with the kinds of images they produced, which is harder to do with photography, as there is less room for experimentation, which led to the traditional pin-up girl style being created. These pin-up girls were painted on calendars and in magazines as part of advertisements. Esquire magazine featured the Vargas girls, and also became famous for featuring the Gibson girls as well.

This craze was taken over to America where it really started to bloom in the 1920's, when women started to rebel against previous Victorian notions of respectability, with energetic dancing and shorter skirts than was previously acceptable, showing more leg than ever before. Underground' pulp' detective magazines such as "The Police Gazette" illustrated scenes of murder by portraying the leading women in various stages of nudity, which was acceptable in society because it was considered "newsworthy". It was from publications such as this one that the pin-up girl started to truly evolve and take a stand in the 1930's.

Pin-up girls had a key role in America during WW2, as it was their job to provide the soldiers with something to hope for whilst away fighting, to remind them of their loved ones back at home, to keep their faith. Pin-up girls Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth fronted this idea, with Betty Grable being awarded "most popular pin-up of WW2". Famous pin-up girl artist Gillette Elvgren produced over 500 paintings of pin-up girls during the WW2 period, which soldiers often kept with them when fighting, either tucked into their jacket pocket or placed on the windscreen of their aircraft as a memory of home. During WW2 pin-up girls became famous for dressing up in military uniforms and drawn in sensual positions. The Vargas girls, a series of illustrated pin-up girls drawn by Alberto Vargas, became so popular that Esquire magazine sent 9 million copies of their magazine full of pin-up girls with no advertisements for American troops both in America and oversees for free. Pin-up girls were also painted onto the side of aircraft vehicles, wishing them a safe flight and journey on their missions.

Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous pin-up girls of all time. In 1949 a photographer paid her $50 (which was a lot of money at the time) to pose naked on a red velvet background. Playboy magazine later bought the rights to one of Marilyn Monroe's calendar shots called "Golden Dreams", which had a massive impact on many Americans who saw the photograph. Playboy went on to become one of the liberalising elements of the sexual revolution in America. Marilyn Monroe wasn't the only famous pin-up girl however, there were many others such as Bettie Page, Bridgette Bardot, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, and Lili St.Claire, who all had a massive impact on the pin-up era.

In the 1950's actresses became pin-up girls, mostly before the film even came to screen. In the 1950's and 60's, most pin-up were produced using photography rather than paintings, and Playboy teamed pin-up photographs with well written lifestyle articles in their magazines, which proved to be a big success. Playboy became the main vehicle for expanding pin-up imagery into mainstream America. These kinds of magazines took over and destroyed all remaining repression. In the 60's especially, pin-up models adapted the traditional pin-up into fetish and bondage styles, such as the relationship between Betty Page and photographer Irving Klaws. This kind of imagery is a lot darker than the original pin-up style however was still done in a fun, innocent kind of way. Later on in the 60's, the pin-up girl transformed into a much more sexual image due to the new 'free love' way of thinking brought on by the hippies. People became fascinated and wrapped up in this new pin-up girl style and the traditional pin-up girl lost it's innocent meaning.

In the 1970's many of the original, popular pin-up girl artists retired due to photography completely taking over from the illustrated form. There became a big demand for video, which led to more explicit, sexual imagery being produced, which depicted a whole range of sex acts. This market grew massively due to demand, and became known today as 'porn'. 

In the 1980's a new artist, Dave Stevens, emerged, keeping the image of traditional pin-up girls alive, especially with the invention of the Internet in the 1990's. This showed the world that the interest in traditional pin-up girls was still alive.

Nowadays there has been a massive increase in popularity of the traditional pin-up girl, with many models emerging in the traditional pin-up style, although they do cross over into several different genres. The pin-up girl also shines through in lingerie, although this has been adapted and changed through time keeping with the modern trends. More and more women are also wanting to shown off their natural curved and are more proud of their womanly figure, which is what traditional pin-up girls promoted. However, today most pin-up girls are produced using technology, and you'd struggle to find an artist that can draw pin-up girls in the same way as Gillette Elvgren.