Today marks the 100th birthday of the great Pin-Up master Gil Elvgren. Now we did a post on him last year for his 99th and decided to do something to celebrate his art and the ladies because these are what made him famous and oh so memorable.
Enjoy the lovely ladies in all their sexy scenarios, tasteful states of undress and, most importantly, the fun filled paintings.
Happy Birthday Elvgren and may your sexy pin-ups last forever.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
Me, Cat, Vanessa and James are all hoping you’re having a spookily fantastic Halloween! People of the UK I’m hoping you’ve had fun trick or treating… It’s now past 10pm so hopefully teens and grown-ups are ready to party! I’ve … Continue reading
Today would have been the stunningly wonderful Bettie Mae Page’s 90th birthday. Everyone knows who the sex symbol was whether they recognised her from Pin-Ups and Playboy or from her many underwear shoots and burlesque shows. Her life wasn’t all wonderful but we’re here to celebrate her and what better way than to look at her in all her liberating glory. Continue reading
On this day 99 years ago a great American artist and illustrator was born. In his own rights this man is bigger than the great classical artists who produced their work decades and centuries before. This man is Pin-Up artist … Continue reading
There are two things that can be fitted into the words, “Pin Up Girl Tattoos,” Pin Up Girls WITH Tattoos, a more contemporary art form. Involving the art of female models with an often alternative clothing/lifestyle posing pin up styles with tattoos often been the main attraction. These barely dressed, yet lovely, ladies are often seen in Tattoo magazines- last year one tattoo magazine gave a calendar where every month you got a different pin up, tattoo covered, girl.
Now actual Pin Up Girl tattoos are more permanent… Unless you have the money to pay for laser removal. And of course if you have seen X-Men Origins Wolverine. The Character Fred Dukes (Or to all you X-men fans, “The Blob,”) Got a pin up girl tattoo and you see the tattoos don’t be come very impressive if you gain a lot weight (Note for you all though just incase you didn’t know- A tattoo will grow as your skin does, meaning your skin stretches the tattoo stretches. The tattoo will not stay the same.)
People have been having pin up girls tattooed on to themselves for decades, as it has been mentioned pin up girls were seen as a symbol of luck in the war. Men would have them tattooed on their arm, but even today it is a popular choice, whole chapters being dedicated to pin up designs in tattoo selection books. And even women today are known to have pin up girls tattooed on themselves.
I do suggest researching tattooists before getting any tattoo done, we’ve all heard of mistakes that have happened. But the human form is probably one of the trickiest things someone can transfer on to skin, most of the time you will not get 100% quality of the image. Think about it. The paper you will have printed or drawn your image on will be pure white, your skin isn’t. Paper= flat. You= Not flat.
Example of differences. Although this is a fairly good job you can see the effect skin colour has on the tattoo.
Over the years different Pin-up girl tattoo categories have been created, no longer do people just get to choose from the normal, human pin up girls. There has been a development of having pin up girls with modifications such as wings. Plus you can choose to have a more realistic pin up girl or a more, “Cartoon,” type girl.
Once upon a time Hollywood starlets were famous for their stunning looks and the films they starred in. Scandal was that deeply hidden that it was almost unheard of, especially for the ladies. The Second World War came along and … Continue reading
Risque, pretty and down right fun Pin-Up Girls are an art form on their own. Many artists painted them from models and a few created the girls for movie posters. Here are three artists that come from around the same eras but have stamped their own mark on the world of Pin-Ups. Fantastically two of these are women and the guy really needs no introduction. Continue reading
Let’s not imagine these two types of women in a wrestling ring. Although I will admit it would be a fairly interesting match; the seducing poses and bodies of the Pin-Up Girls against the hard working determined attitudes of the Land Girls who aren’t afraid to get dirty… I think we all know what side a large slice of the male population would take. But this isn’t a beauty pageant.
Land Girls were one of the reasons society stayed afloat, with men going out to war in WWI and WWII, there was hardly anyone back home to look after the agriculture. The women looked after the farms, without this staples such as bread, milk and vegetables wouldn’t have been about. This was a huge chance for women to show what they could do, before their main jobs were to stay at home and look after the house, kids and husband. Ok, that attitude was still there in the 1950’s, but this could be said to have given women a bit more confidence, breaking out of the traditional feminine role. Women got to get dirty, roll up their sleeves and dress up in overalls, dungarees, wellies, ok most still wore the norm of skirts and dresses but there was some freedom, and go out to work. Not a sewing machine in sight (unless you made parachutes)! Women got to use machinery such as tractors and even learnt to fix them.
This wasn’t just a British thing. The USA has their own Land Girl society, slowly the western culture began to see the industrial use of women. This wasn’t like Victorian times where women were forced to work in factories just to survive. These modern day women VOLUNTEERED to be of use to their country
The world was in a war, the men weren’t the only ones who were wanting to fight for their country. Women weren’t allowed to join the army in those days so, ways for women to fight from home were made available.
Land Girls were just one battle station a woman could take up. For the more qualified lady strategic stations were available through the Forces. Anyone who has seen a war time film, must have seen the women doing jobs like answering the phones and pushing boats across the big maps to show where our boats are.
Overall, the Land Girls had a hard task, hate to admit it but most women, especially in those days due to the rationed diet plus most being mothers who would have given up food to feed her family, aren’t as strong as men. They went out to do a mans job digging, farming and mechanical work and they succeeded.
HONESTLY, They did a bloody good job. Women today should look back and be proud and use them as inspiration for the strength we have.
Pin-Up Girls. Compared to the Land Girls this role would seem like luxury. However, taking into account Pin-Up Girls were popular in the war, there was hardly any luxury (except for the famous). These girls were supposed to smile, put on a show, make others happy or at least feel like there was hope. Most Drawn Pin up girls were seen having the desired, ‘Hour Glass,’ Figure. Today loads of women either aim to be stick thin, or have a curvy hour glass figure. Back then the only figure which was desired was the hour glass. World War one plunged Great Britain into a world of rationed food, people lost weight, and the risk of transport for bringing goods over seas didn’t just damage food supply. Cotton was imported so clothing had to be hand made, the term, “Make Do and Mend,” became popular- A.K.A if you had a hole in your sock you fixed it and kept wearing the sock, most people couldn’t afford to go out and buy new clothing, they made it.
In Pin Up Photo shoots, legs became popular. 
Actress Betty Grable was known for her legs, her legs were insured for 1 million dollars. If you have a look at some pin up pictures from that era the
legs are the main focus. Even today parts of the pin up figure remain, hour glass bodies are still provocative and “Sexy,” due to the big bust and curvy hips. And long legs are also a trait that are seen attractive. The world is still in a pin up state.
Pin-Up Girls did good from a point of view. Some men saw them as, “Good Luck,” Charms. The point of them were so men could visualise the woman- Pin-Up Girls became a sort of pornography… Just with out the boobs showing like most cases of picture porn these days.
They motivated men, men could think they were fighting for a woman like that- I feel I should be including that Disney Mulan song, “A Girl Worth Fighting for ,” In this post. The other point of view looks at the other females who had to look at these women.
It gave (in some cases) an unrealistic image of the female body. Ok, all females could be as pretty as a pin up, but realistically the figure and the clothes were not achievable in a war. Pin up’s made expectations for men higher, but that expectation for majority of females couldn’t reach that.
Overall, Pin-Up Girls had their part to play. They gave men overseas hope. Just as women back home gave others hope and cared for them. It’s almost as if Pin-Up Girls stepped in being the wives of the men overseas when women couldn’t be their for them as they couldn’t reach them and had other responsibilities to up hold.
This week at Well Did You Evah we’re going to teach you about an art form that is sexy, funny, eye catching and is said to have helped the Americans during WWII. This great and controversial art is Pin-Up Girls!
Well Did You Evah... 