The Pinup Glossary- Cheesecake A to Z!
Wonder why you were up all night looking for
retro booty and all you found were pastry recipes?
Asking yourself what World War II contributed to
the spurt of pinups? Pondering the business model
behind Playboy Magazine? All this and more in The
Pinup Glossary- Cheesecake A to Z!OK, well...
It's only B to P and it's missing a few letters in
the middle, but I'm determined to start a Pinup
Glossary. So this is my start, but I want all you
pinup lovers out there to chip in. If you've got a
cheesecake related term, in need of defining,
please e-mail me with
your suggestions and definitions and I'll post it
up.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Beefcake A beefcake is a muscular,
bare-chested male, usually depicted in the
medium of photography or a realistic painting.
A term coined as contradiction to the
Cheesecake, by the Hollywood camera-men, at a
time when bare chests were "block busters".
Bombshell Originating from World War
II, a Bombshell Girl was a sexy, scantily clad
woman, painted on the side of planes, bombers
and bombs. Bombshells were a popular sector of
what is known as “Nose Art” (the art of
painting on the front tip of a plane, also
known as a “nose”).
Since this isn't Wikipedia, here's the wonderful
Salma Hayek's take on the definition of Bombshell:
Cheesecake A scantily clad
full-figured woman (mostly abiding by the
36-24-36 “ideal measurements”), usually
depicted in the medium of photography or a
realistic painting.At the height of French
postcards popularity, the phrase (sic)
"cheesecake" was coined. In 1915 George Miller
shot the Russian opera singer, Elvira Amazar,
for a New York newspaper when she landed in
the city. He had her hike up her skirt for the
shot, and according to legend when his editor
saw the photo, he exclaimed, "Why this is
better than cheesecake!" (also a new delicacy
at the time).
For the full article, check out The Big Apple.
Girlie Magazine The Girlie Mag is
Playboy's predecessor, as far as business
models go. The brain-child of one Robert Harrison
(aka “The High Priest of Sleaze”), the girlie
magazine was a smut&scandal content
aggregator, accompanied by pinup art(usually
illustrations) and mainly funded by
advertisements directed at men.
Neo-Pinups The Neo-Pinups are what I
call the resurgence of pinups, beginning
around the year 2000 (some even way back in
the 90’s ;) ). Neo-Pinups are a subculture,
derived from other subcultures such as Neo-Goth,
BDSM and Rockabilly.
These three subcultures have their own unique
fashion statements, music, entertainment, and
hangouts. They all produced a certain kind of
pinup, which seems to have meshed and cross the
borders, and gave birth to a hybrid which is
sweet, sexy, dark and retro all at the same
time. Neo-Pinup models are now in demand, as
pinup fashion and fetish is growing ever
popular, thanks to the World Wide Web. A
neo-pinup is usually characterized with tatoos,
piercings and brightly colored hair (pink is
the new blonde, red is the new redhead).
Another attribute of the neo-pinup, in contrast
to a regular fashion model, is she may be of a
fuller figure, that, in my view, is what gives
them their alternative appeal
Pinup Girl A pinup, is a photograph,
illustration, painting, postcard- or any other
visual media which is intended to hang on a
wall, in other words “to be pinned up to a
wall”.
A pinup girl is a model with appealing sexual
features, whom is photographed or painted, in order
for this picture/illustration to be pinned to the
wall. Most traditional pinup girls (around World
War II) were celebrities, such as Betty
Grable and, later, Marilyn Monroe.
These pictures were printed in “Girlie
Magazines”, intended for a male target
audience, especially GI's.
Such art is still associated with the military (and
machoism), and can be found in causes such as
Pinups for
Troops.
Playboy Bunny “Bunnies” were the
waitresses in the Playboy clubs (1960–1988).
The cuddly nickname was coined as a reference
to the Playboy waitresses' uniform (the first
uniform ever to be registered with the United
States Patent and Trademark Office ), inspired
by Playboy's mascot, the tuxedo-wearing
rabbit. The uniform consisted of a corset,
bunny ears, a collar, cuffs, and a fluffy
cottontail.
The Bunnies should not be confused with Playboy
Playmates, women who appear in the centerfold
pictorials of Playboy magazine, although a few
bunnies went on to become Playmates. The Bunnies
became extremely popular and it is attributed to
them that a woman in rabbit ears is, today,
considered sexy.
The Bunnies have lately been rehashed in the new
and only existing official playboy club, The Palms Resort, in
Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rockabilly Culture Rockabilly is a sub-genre
in music- a mix between Rock n’ Roll and
so-called “Hillbilly Music” (Country). The
internet is responsible for a second
rockabilly revival (the first occurred in the
1970’s and 80’s). As pinups gained popularity,
they and retro car enthusiasts joined forces
with Rockabilly and eventually a subculture
was formed. Wikipedia profiles the fashions
shortly and thoroughly, in the sub-article in
their Rockabilly section, “The Rockabilly
Look”:
In the UK revival of Teddy Boy fashions and in
the United States, rockabilly fans have favored
the greaser look, in which men have flamboyant
pompadour hairstyles, with lots of hair pomade
and long sideburns. For clothing, men wear tight
jeans or black slacks, brothel creeper shoes,
Texas “bolo” neckties, and leopard-skin accents.
American fans have also adopted other 1950s-style
clothing, such as bowling shirts, gas station
"work" shirts, cowboy shirts, and Hawaiian
“aloha” shirts, as well as the leather motorcycle
jacket.The motorcycle jacket stems from the
rockers, who needed them as much for function as
for fashion.
As for Women:
Women’s fashions in the rockabilly community
have never really revived the true 1950s look of
poodle skirts worn with letter sweaters. However,
glamorous 1950s dresses, often with crinolines,
have found some favor. Many of today’s female
rockabilly fans are inspired by bad girl pinup
models of the 1950s, such as Bettie Page. They
often wear animal prints, horn-rimmed sunglasses,
fishnet stockings, tight jeans, capris, or short
shorts. Tattoos are popular among both sexes.
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