Vintage Pin Up Girls

Vintage Pin Up Girls of The 40′s, 50′s & Today

A vintage pin up girl or pin up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as pop culture. Pin ups were and still are intended for informal display. Vintage Pin up girls were often glamor models, fashion models,and actresses and still are today (see our modern pin ups)!

Ultra Sexy, Modern Day
Pin Up Kay O’Hara

A vintage pin up girl was a woman whose pulchritude would entice one to place a picture of her on a wall. The term was first attested to in English in 1941; however the practice is documented as going back at least to the 1890s. The “pin up” images could be cut out of magazines or newspapers, or be from postcard or chromo-lithographs, etc. Such photos often appear on calendars, which are meant to be pinned up anyway. Later, posters of “pin-up girls” were mass produced. One of the most popular early pin up girls was Betty Grable, a poster of whom was ubiquitous in the lockers of GIs during World War II.

“Pin-up” may also refer to drawings, paintings and other illustrations done in emulation of these photos (see the List of pinup artists). The term was first attested to in English in 1941; however the practice is documented back at least to the 1890s.

Many “vintage pin ups” were photographs of celebrities who were considered sex symbols. One of the most popular early pin up girls was Betty Grable. Her poster was ubiquitous in the lockers of G.I.s during World War II. Others pin ups were artwork, often depicting idealized versions of what some thought a particularly beautiful or attractive woman should look like. An early example of the latter type was the Gibson girl, drawn by Charles Dana Gibson. The genre also gave rise to several well-known artists specializing in the field, including Alberto Vargas and George Petty, and numerous lesser artists such as Art Frahm.

The term “cheesecake” is synonymous with “pin-up photo”. The earliest documented print usage of this sense of “cheesecake” is in 1934, predating “pin-up”, although anecdotes say the phrase was in spoken slang some 20 years earlier, originally in the phrase (said of a sexy/pretty woman) “better than cheesecake”.

These days men can be considered “pin ups” as well and there are male equivalents of attractive and sexy actors such as Brad Pitt or numerous male models. The counterpart term to “cheesecake” is “beefcake”. Note: You will NOT see any male “pin ups” on this site (Sorry).

In recent years, illustration artists have explored pin-up in more radical ways, namely Rion Vernon, the creator of the term “pinup toons”, who has merged the classic pin-up girl with the cartoon and caricature realms.