Retro, Pinup,Burlesque

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 00:54 | Last Updated on Thursday, 01 December 2011 16:15 | Written by Flamer

Pinup as we know it today is radically different to its humble origins which can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century,
a time when sexuality was both scrutinized and suppressed.

For instance a woman showing a bare ankle was considered risqué and the word "sex" itself was not even used publicly.

As ever people find a way round even the most stringent of rules and the desire for images of an erotic
nature was overcome by the birth of portraying scantily clad ladies as an art form.

As art such images were deemed acceptable by the society of the time and many of these early drawings
and illustrations that are considered the roots of the pinup genre used imagery of the burlesque striptease routines as their starting point.

Additionally magazines such as 'The Police Gazette' illustrated stories of murder and mayhem
by showing the leading ladies in various states of undress, which was considered to be completely
legitimate by the general populous as they were considered newsworthy.

During the 1920's society began to rebel against the repression of the previous decades with
the energetic dancing, partying and fashions such as flap skirts that showed more leg than ever before.

It was at this time that underground 'pulp' detective magazines appeared using drawings and paintings
of bondage and nudity to illustrate their stories of murder and kidnap.

Meanwhile a new genre of nudist publications also surfaced linking sex and humor again using drawings
to illustrate their stories and jokes. It was from such publications that what we think of as pinup art began
to evolve during the early 1930's.

Artists such as George Petty and Alberto Vargas created calendar girls that very soon adorned the walls
of garages and workshops everywhere.

Additionally Esquire magazine was initially published in this decade and very soon it was
regularly carrying pinup art and illustrations from many different artists.

However it was the 1940's and World War II that really saw pinup art explode into the
phenomenon we know today.

There wasn't a G.I. who didn't have a painting of his favorite movie star such as Rita Hayworth
or Bettie Grable on his locker door or stuffed somewhere in his kitbag so that he could be reminded
of home during the long hours spent away from his family and loved ones.

Add to that the girls so painstakingly painted on to the side of military aircraft in order to bring them luck
on their numerous missions and it was easy to see that pinup art had found a footing in mainstream society.

Post WWII artists such as Elvgren emerged as failing magazines and publishers tried to woo the public
with risqué imagery. By this time the original artwork from the more popular artists was becoming much
sought after by certain collectors and it was finally accepted that pinup had a place in the art world
which was somewhat ironic considering it's origins.

During the late 1950's and early 1960's pinup began to surface in the form of photography as
well as the now traditional art. Magazines such as the famous Playboy were published blending
pinup style photography with well written lifestyle articles and the response was huge.

The magazines ripped through any remaining repression gaining acceptability in
most parts of society in a matter of a few years.

At this time different models and artists began to mutate pinup across and into different
genres such as fetish and even bondage, the most famous of these being the partnership
between Bettie Page and Irving Claws.

Although some of this imagery could be considered much darker in style than that of the early
pinup artists it was still invariably done with a sense of fun, tease and innocence that typifies the pinup genre.

During the 1960's Playboy and other magazines gained a huge circulation all the while moving
pinup style imagery into the psyche of mainstream America.

Unfortunately by the 1970's photography had just about taken over from art and most of the original pinup artists
had retired from the genre they had so lovingly created.

With the advent of video the demand for adult material began to move towards far more lewd and graphic imagery
depicting all manner of sex acts and it seemed that the playful innocence of pinup was lost forever.

However during the 1980's new artists such as Dave Stevens kept the genre going and with the arrival of the Internet
in the late 1990's it soon became apparent that interest in classic pinup art and photography was still very much alive.

In the last few years there has been a real rekindling of mainstream interest in the genre with new art appearing from
modern artists such as Olivia and many of the original Playboy pinup models using the Internet to sell their classic prints and images.

From this a new breed of Internet pinup models has emerged and although many of them cross over into other genres they
owe at least part of their style to the classic pinup era.

Amongst them are several models who have attempted to solely recreate the classic pinup look with varying degrees of success.

All in all it seems strange that it should be something as modern as the Internet that will help ensure that classic pinup
will be with us long into the 21st century.

Fortunately it seems that at least some people out there still enjoy the beauty and tease of the pinup
genre over the much stronger and more explicit material that is now so freely available.

This is somewhat ironic when you consider that the latter in part way only exists due to pinup art and photography
helping to make images with an erotic leaning more and more acceptable to American culture throughout the 20th century.

The main thing is that pinup lives ...

Long may it continue ...

Comments (1)

Monday, 28 November 2011 23:27 | Last Updated on Thursday, 01 December 2011 16:16 | Written by Flamer

Dita Von Teese was born Heather Renée Sweet on September 28, 1972 in Rochester, Michigan, the middle of three daughters. Her mother was a manicurist and her father was a machinist at a company that made graphite. She is of partly Armenian heritage.

Von Teese is well known for her fascination with 1940s cinema and classic retro style. This began at a young age and was fostered by her mother, who would buy clothes for her daughter to dress up in. Her mother was a fan of old, Golden-era Hollywood films, and it was from her that Von Teese developed a fascination with the actresses of that day, especially Betty Grable.

She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an early age, and danced solo at age thirteen for a local ballet company. Though she originally wanted to be a ballerina, Von Teese states that "By 15 I was as good as I’d ever be." She was later to incorporate this element into her burlesque shows, where she frequently goes en pointe.

The family relocated from Michigan to Orange County, California when her father's job moved. Von Teese attended University High School in Irvine.

As a teenager, Von Teese's mother took her to buy her first bra, made from plain white cotton, and gave her a plastic egg containing a pair of wrinkly, flesh-colored tights. Von Teese says she was disappointed as she had been hoping to receive beautiful lacy garments and stockings, of the type she had glimpsed in her father's Playboy magazines. This fueled her passion for lingerie. She worked in a lingerie store as a salesgirl when she was fifteen, eventually as a buyer. Von Teese has been fond of wearing elaborate lingerie such as corsets and basques with fully fashioned stockings ever since.

In college Von Teese studied historic costuming and aspired to work as a stylist for period films. She is a trained costume designer, often designing (and copyrighting) the photoshoots herself.

Von Teese began her career in a local strip club when she was eighteen. Disappointed with the lack of originality in all the other strippers' acts, Von Teese created a vintage-inspired outfit, with beehive hairstyle and elbow-length gloves coupled with a basque and seamed stockings, piquing the interest of the clientele. Fetish and glamour modeling

It was during this time at the strip club that she began some glamour modeling, before she eventually became a fetish model. Her retro pin-up look, frequently emulating Bettie Page in photo shoots, set her apart from most other fetish models.

Von Teese achieved some level of recognition in the fetish world as a tightlacer. Through the wearing of a corset for many years, she had reduced her natural waistline to 22 inches (56 cm), and can be laced down as far as 16.5 inches (42 cm). A thin person already, Von Teese stands at 5 ft 5" (165 cm.) and weighs 114 pounds (52 kg).

Von Teese appeared on a number of fetish magazine covers, including Bizarre and Marquis. It was around this time when she appeared on the cover of Midori's book, The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage.

Von Teese was featured in Playboy in 1999, 2001 and 2002, with a cover-featured pictorial in 2002.

The German metal band Atrocity chose her as the cover model for their 2008 album, Werk 80 II.

Von Teese is best known for her burlesque routines and is frequently dubbed "the Queen of Burlesque" in the press. Von Teese began performing burlesque in 1993 and, as a proponent of New Burlesque, has helped to popularize its revival. In her own words, she "puts the tease back into striptease" with long, elaborate dance shows with props and characters, often inspired by 1930s and 1940s musicals and films. Some of her more famous dances have involved a carousel horse, a giant powder compact, a filigree heart and a clawfoot bathtub with a working shower head. Her feather fan dance, inspired by burlesque dancer Sally Rand, featured the world's largest feather fans, now on display in Hollywood's Museum Of Sex. Her signature show features a giant martini glass.

Her burlesque career has included some memorable performances. She once appeared at a benefit for the New York Academy of Art wearing nothing but $5 million worth of diamonds. Additionally, Von Teese became the first guest star to perform at the Parisian Crazy Horse cabaret club with her appearance in October 2006. Also in 2006, Von Teese appeared on an episode of America's Next Top Model cycle 7 doing a workshop to teach the contestants about sexiness by means of burlesque dancing and posing. In 2007 Von Teese performed at the adult entertainment event Erotica 07 in London alongside Italian Rock noir band Belladonna.

Cameron Diaz performed a tribute to Von Teese's martini glass routine in the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Von Teese's name appears in the credits, listed under "Special Thanks."

Von Teese's first book, which consisted of her opinions on the history of burlesque and fetish, Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese, was published in 2006 by HarperCollins. Vanity Fair called her "a Burlesque Superheroine."

In 2008 Von Teese was one of the contributors to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book Cherry Bomb.

Von Teese participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia as part of the stage performance for the German entry "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang." The act placed 20th out of 25 participants in the final round of the contest. Later, she said her cleavage was censored during the show because of her voluptuous figure.

Von Teese is also an occasional actress. In her early years she appeared in fetish-related, soft-core pornographic movies, such as Romancing Sara, Matter of Trust, in which she is billed as Heather Sweet, and also in two hard-core fetish films by Andrew Blake: Pin Ups 2 and Decadence.

In recent years she has appeared in more mainstream features, such as the 2005 short film, The Death of Salvador Dali, written by Delaney Bishop, which won best screenplay and best cinematography at recent festivals, including SXSW, Raindance Film Festival and Mill Valley Film Festival, and Best Actress for Von Teese at Beverly Hills Film Festival. She appeared in the feature films Saint Francis and The Boom Boom Room, both in 2007.

In addition to this, she has appeared in a number of music videos, including the video for the Green Day song "Redundant," he video for "Zip Gun Bop" by swing band Royal Crown Revue, Agent Provocateur's video for their cover of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control," and performed her Martini Glass burlesque routine in the video for "Mobscene" by Marilyn Manson. She has also been featured in a striptease/burlesque act in George Michael's live tour 2008, for the song "Feelin' Good."

However, Von Teese has said that acting is not at the top of her agenda and she would only take roles that she feels are right for her, stating, "I don't understand why women feel the need to go into acting as soon as they become famous...But I suppose if the part were aesthetically correct, then maybe I could consider it."

Von Teese has appeared on a number of best-dressed lists and frequents the front row of fashion shows, particularly Christian Dior and Marc Jacobs, labels she is often seen wearing.

She has also done various catwalk work. During Los Angeles Fashion Week, Spring 2004, she modeled for former club kid Richie Rich's fashion label, Heatherette. In 2005 she appeared in the Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear show for Giambattista Valli, a former designer for Ungaro, in Paris. In the 2006 Milan Fashion Week, Von Teese was on the runway, opening for the Moschino diffusion label, Moschino Cheap & Chic, autumn/winter 2006/7 show. In 2007, she appeared twice in the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture show during the Paris Fashion Week. Additionally, she has starred in several ad campaigns. She appeared in Vivienne Westwood's spring/summer 2005 collection adverts and became the face of Australian clothing range Wheels and Dollbaby for their 2006/7 Spring/Summer advertising campaign. Currently, she is a spokesmodel for MAC Cosmetics. Von Teese has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, and international issues of nearly every fashion magazine. She has also campaigned on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and appeared in their ads. Most recently she has designed a new lingerie range with Wonderbra.

In spite of this, Von Teese states that she never uses a stylist. "The one time I hired a stylist, they picked up a pair of my 1940s shoes and said, 'These would look really cute with jeans.' I immediately said, 'You’re out of here.'" She does her own make-up, and dyes her naturally blonde hair black at home. Von Teese's unique style is "inspired by eccentric women like Luisa Casati, Anna Piaggi, and Isabella Blow."

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Retro, Pinup,Burlesque

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