I was reading one of my favorite blogs, College Fashion, and saw this post about Bettie Page in their "A History of Style" posts section. (To read it check it out here). As I was reading I thought to myself "Oh great! These are more outfit ideas for that pin up girl look that's so popular. I've been meaning to try it out, especially with the swimsuits." But then I thought to myself "Why is this look so popular now?"
Well for one, there's the fashion and beauty aspects of it. The 1950s and 1960s seem to have taken over this fashion season. If you take a look at Top Shop there are a ton of those little bralette tops that look like you should wear them inside, mainly in the bedroom, but they're perfectly fine to wear outside. Rihanna has been seen wearing a few. Angela Simmons wore one with a high waisted skirt to her hairline launch. The look is popular. And there is high waisted EVERYTHING: pencil skirts, shorts, mini skirts, long skirts, jeans, colored jeans, denim shorts and pants. Red lipstick is on the rise and the cute bang with wavy hair or ponytail is très chic.
So yea, I get the phenomenon in that regard. Cute clothes, pretty makeup, unique hairstyles. I'm all for it. My concern is for the young girls emulating EVERY aspect of the pin up girl. That includes the ultra tiny waist, large breasts and large derrière. Is this phenomenon creating more harm than good? We, as a society already put tons of pressure on young girls to look a certain way according to model standards and their favorite celebrities they see in magazines. Has society added another icon to emulate? Not to mention this is a body type that is nearly impossible to attain. You're born with the genes that will form the hourglass figure. Of course there are enhancement surgeries, but for girls as young as 12 up to new women at the age of 18, this is seemingly impossible.
I want to say this is great in some aspects because Bettie Page was a woman with curves who loved them and flaunted them. But if we as a society are putting emphasis on the pin up girl look then does that mean we'll have girls trying their hardest to make their waists pencil thin while attaining fullness everywhere else?
My hope is that this is something that is just popular in fashion and beauty (makeup and hair), not another harmful image girls are trying to make their reality.
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| Bettie Page (Source) |
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| Modern pinup girl Angelique Noire |
Is this just me thinking too much into healthy body image issues, or do you all feel the same? And what about girls taking pictures to look like these vintage and modern day pinup girls? Should we as a society be doing more to promote healthy body image and self-respect? Or is it a lost cause?
This is interesting to me, and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why. Mentally I've always linked the modern sex-positive movement with pin-up culture, because it openly embraced different figures and let women define how their bodies would be interpreted. But I think one of the main reasons why that's possible is because 50s pinup was so not sexy according to our current values of what is and what isn't attractive. With easily detected makeup, strange curves, a domineering sexuality, and cagey, restraining underwear, 50s pinup women were formidable and aggressive and had no use for men except as an audience. However, modern interpretations of pinup are much softer and more demure. It takes away most of the fierce power that the original pinup movement had. Page was raped not long before she started posing and pinup was a way of using what society deemed her only asset to her advantage, but modern day interpretations of it reduce it to a fashion. I can feel myself getting all carried away and off-topic so I'll stop here, but I think the reason why I find it interesting is because it reminds me of another article I found interesting. It was about Angela Davis and her iconic afro and how it was slowly made into a fad through magazines stylizing it as a "fashion" of the 70s that can be recycled today with none of the political or activist connotations that made it (and her) such a central icon of the time.
ReplyDeleteVery true about the sexual liberation 50s pinup offered women. I wasn't thinking about it in that context when I wrote the article. Probably because all of the history behind the pinup has been pushed aside by fashion and the modern pinup. As I was writing I was thinking about Rihanna and all of the criticism she gets for being so liberal in her displays of sexuality. I guess the more I think about it, the more I'm on the fence about the pinup culture. Like yes, it's great for women being able to express themselves and show off their curves and honestly it's just really beautiful art. But the problem for me comes in when young girls are trying to do it as a means of copying what they think is sexy and will get men's attention. I think that's my main fear in all of this. And your comment about Angela Davis and her afro is interesting. I definitely haven't done much study on Ms. Davis, and probably should do more, but I guess I equate women today wearing their afros with their new sense of liberation in the natural hair community. It may not be as politically or activist motivated, but I see great value in these women defying beauty norms by wearing their hair big without the care of it being straightened because that's what society deems as beautiful.
DeleteThe Angela Davis article was about a decade old and wasn't referring to the current shift towards natural hair and away from Bluest Eye-esque ideas of beauty, which I find empowering, awesome, and generally gorgeous and way better for your hair. If I find it I'll send it to you. It was a very interesting read.
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