Corsets, sheer robes, silk, cotton,
flowers and polka dots and everything nice!
That’s what pinup unmentionables are made of.
For your pleasure and education, here’s a
peep at pinup lingerie- then and now.
There was an age, when you could catch a
pinup in regular, every day panties. White
cotton shorts that would peep out from a
scandalously flowing skirt. With the rise of
girlie magazines, came a demand for more
risque cheesecake. Artists, happily obliged
and today there is a huge collection of
drawings of the day’s finest lingerie and
fantasy wear.
Your Basic Shorts and Matching Bra
It is said that up until the grand opening of
Frederick's
of Hollywood, in Hollywood, panties
were merely a device for body hygiene.
Pinup artists, however, present an
idealized picture of the 30’s, as well
as the 40’s and 50’s. The simplest was
an all-covering, high-waist, brief-cut
panties, that would cover the garter
belt (a must have for any
self-respecting-stockings-wearing
woman). Usually paired off with a
matching bra, sporting embroidery and
flower patterns, usually made of silk,
lace or satin.
The briefs are
usually associated with “the working
girl”. She’s in the middle of work,
she’s ironing her skirt, or getting
dressed for her busy day. It’s an
old-school design, and rarely redone
today, even though briefs have been back
in style for a while, now. Apart from
this Olivia De Berardinis homage to
Betty Page, I couldn’t find modern
briefs. Today’s artists seem to prefer
fantasy lingerie, but I’ll get to that
later.
Polka Dots
Nothing spells retro
like polka dots. Even though a thorough
look through online pinup archives will
show that they are considerably rare.
Small polka dots would appear on
dresses, while the big ones were
reserved for the bathing suits. It’s
very rare to see polka dots on
under-garments, possibly because their
playfulness- too much cute, not enough
sexy. That would probably be the reason
why you won’t see them on most of
today’s pinups. But don’t despair, I’ve
managed to find a contemporary artist
who does polka dots.
This is Carlos Cartagena’s work and he does
many old-school homages to the pinup greats.
See Through Robes and Night
Gowns
The greatest thing
since Wonder Bread: The see through
robe. Many pinups sport the see through
robe and there seems to be no special
characteristic needed. Whether coy and
seductive or stumped and in distress -
you gotta have a see-through robe.
Although an item that still sells well, the
see through robes didn’t quite make the
neo-pinup evolution. The see-through night
gown went through some changes, too.
It is a rarity among contemporary artists -
not the fabric of choice. But more on that
later. I did find that Greg Hildebrandt of
the Hildebrandt Brothers has a specific love
of draping fabrics, and many a sheer robes
pass through his art.
The Corset
The Corset is a Long
lost relic of feminine oppression, yet
women all over the world love them.
(After they took out the
wale-bone,
who wouldn’t!
) The fetish factor has
been attached to the corset, ever since
it stopped being an every-day item. It’s
been popular throughout the history of
pinups and due to the contemporary scene
of BDSM it has been rediscovered with a
vengeance. While the old pinup masters
poked fun at the corset, the
contemporary artists take them very
seriously.
The Little Black Teddy
Coco Chanel had The
Little Black Dress, pinups have The
Little Black Teddy. No matter if you’re
1930’s or 2000’s this is a staple of
your pinup couture. It seems you can
track this piece all the way back to the
30’s, with lacy trimmings and find it
today, made of shiny latex and paired
with dominatrix boots.
Fantasy and Fetish
It’s interesting to
see the evolution of the sexual fantasy.
Eighty to Sixty years ago, when
transportation was a little slower,
there were wild fantasies of exotic
races and cultures. Hula skirts, belly
dancers and Native American feathers
were all the rage.
In today’s cyber
village, it seems the common fantasy of
the Dominatrix has become the norm.
Fantasy-art elements join this image and
in many cases the pinup isn’t human, at
all. A marvelous array of perfectly
built, extremely realistic, fantastic
pinups, are the new fantasy. Lingerie is
no longer lingerie, as the situation of
the woman in her reality is unclear.
As for more
“down-to-earth” fantasies, to this day
the maid is apparently a big hit. The
little homemaker with the little apron-
a stellar and the bunny has ruled since
playboy came along. The most modern
addition is the school-girl.
Keeping fantasy real,
>> Erich
Sokol - The picture was taken by me from the
book
Playboy: 50 Years: The Cartoons
.
For more of Sokol's pinup gags go
to
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation
Archive.
Tags: pinup lingerie, Fantasy wear, Erich Sokol, shorts, 1930, 1940, 1950, Little black teddy, Enoch Bolles, Al Buell, Billy De Vorss, Donald Rust, Peter Driben, Hubert De Lartigue, Hajime Sorayama, neo pinup revolution,
BDSM, Fetish corset, Paul Corfield, Greg Hildebrandt, Marcus Gray, Robert Skemp, Bill Ward, Bill Randall, Bill Medcalf, Matching bra, Alberto Vargas, see trough robes, sheer night-gowns, Gil Elvgren, retro polka dots, Earl MacPherson, carlos Cartagena, Olivia de Barardinis,
Rolf Armstrong, Vaughan Alden Bass, Art Frahm
