Pin Up Girls: Additional Information

Summary:

            The idea of the pin up girl began in the 1980s in France with Jules Cheret, a major artist and lithographer. Cheret was known as “the father of women’s liberation” because of the way in which he portrayed women (free-spirited) on his posters ("Pin up girls:," ). Soon, taxes were placed on these posters because of its growing popularity, this occurred towards the end of the 19^th century. All of this lead to the pin up girl and this was concerning to many ("Pin up girls:," ).

            The main American pin up girl was The Gibson Girl created by Charles Dana Gibson who had been seen as “the earliest standard of feminine modernized attractiveness in the nation” ("Pin up girls:," ). The Gibson girl was urbane in nature, always dressing fashionably. Women admired the fact that this girl was seen as being on the same page as a man.

            During World War I, the pin up girl was somewhat absent from society. It wasn’t until World War II that it made a rather large comeback and the women had a whole new look. The “more womanly” pin up girl transformed to a “manlier outfitted pin up design and style” ("Pin up girls:," ). This became so popular during this time period because the men out at war fawned over these images that were found on planes, cigarette boxes, calendars, etc.

            The Vargas girls were developed by Joaquín Alberto Vargas y Chávez, an artist from Peru who moved to America in 1916. These girls fit the ideal representation of a pin up girl because of the use soft watercolors and the combination of personas – saint and sinner ("Pin up girls:," ).

            In the latter decades of the 1900s, the voluptuous and blithe aspect of pin up girls seemed to have dissipated and was replaced with the pressure to be thin and fit the “fashion model physique” and standard society had created at that point in time ("Pin up girls:," ).

Analysis:

            The first image of the pin up girl has come a long way. It began with the image of a woman who had been free-spirited and very feminine with Cheret’s work. It then transformed to a more sophisticated and eloquent look with the Gibson girl. After the pin up disappeared for a little while, it’s reappearance in World War II came with a new style consisting of pin up girls dressed in manlier attire. After that, the vintage style of the pin up girl was essentially lost with the influence of Playboy Magazine and the changing standards of the fashion model physique. The vintage pin up has not been forgotten, though, and is seen today, slightly modernized.

Reflection Questions:

1.      What caused all of these transformations of the pin up girl style?

2.      Why did Playboy feel the need to provide “a more in depth glance at the female body”?

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