• Dresses: This is the thing that ladies following the pin up style just can’t do without! The most diverse silhouettes are all in for this range from A-lines to body-flattering tight options. The accent on the waist is the most important detail here. You may also create some contrasts with colors using monochrome dresses and matching them with accessories like when matching a tight fitting black dress with a red floral accessory.
Vixen by Micheline Pitt: Micheline Pitt’s pinup empire includes Vixen, La Femme Noir, and Bad Girl Denim. The latter is a line of retro-cut jeans and shorts popular among bloggers. La Femme Noir leans goth, with a lot of lace, coffin accessories, and body-hugging, well, everything. But Vixen is the real star here, particularly for its size-inclusive tops and pencil skirts (which come in up to a 4X!). Don’t sleep on the kinky/cute lapel pins and hoop earrings, either.
Begin with the fringe area. Create a horizontal parting and brush hair forward. Backcomb the base of the section. Sweep hair back and away from face to create a soft fringe roll. Use a hair donut, padding or gentle backcombing for extra support. Pin under as needed with bobby pins. Smooth the exterior of the fringe with a fine tooth comb and light hairspray.
Many of the most popular prom dresses today are based on styles of the 1950s. Again, Christian Dior created one of the fashions that every girl had to have when he included the bubble dress in his 1954 and 1956 collections. French designer Pierre Cardin also included it in his collection. These dresses are made with hems that fold back on themselves to form a bubble. Women could find various style tops, but bustier ones are most common. Making them even more radical for their time, most had hemlines ending mid-thigh to just above the knee. Look spectacular at your next party by checking out this offering from Lyst (@lyst).
A simple pin-up hairstyle has always been neat and sexy, from pin curls, victory rolls, bangs and more. All you need is a large barrel curling iron, a good ol’ hairspray, some bobby pins… and more and more hairspray to hold your curls together. You can also use Pin-up hair accessories like headbands, bandanas, flower pins and hats as accents and to show emphasis on your neat and intact hairstyle.
Do you or did you used to work in an office environment? Then you're bound to own a pencil skirt. The classic pencil skirt is a key piece to bring to a pinup shoot as it's very usable and can be worn with shirts and cardigans or even just with your favorite bra. It is reminiscent of 1950s wiggle dresses that made the wearer walk with a little wiggle in their step.
Dressing in vintage style clothing for a themed event or personal fashion is our passion. We turned a hobby into this website to make it easy to find vintage inspired clothing for women and men online spanning 1900-1960s. Our fashion history blog helps you create the look from decades past using vintage, vintage inspired and thrifty clothing, Need help? Ask us anytime.
These ten items are the pinup basics that will build a fabulous foundation for your new wardrobe. I’ve tried to find affordable options for each item. Money can be tight when you’re buying yourself a whole new wardrobe! And when you’re a fledgling pinup, you may not want to blow £100 on a dress. Well, you’ll probably want to but may not be able to justify it! Now, enough of this chatting, it’s smudging my lipstick. Let’s go shopping! Here’s what you’ll need…
The clients you would most likely come across for this style are vintage enthusiasts, pin up pageant girls and burlesque artists, as well as people going to costume parties. There are also always drag queens and the secret “I Love Lucy”-obsessed people from that era who are holding onto nostalgia. Either way, this style is great fun to create and will come in handy when you least expect it, or when you want to embrace your inner silver screen goddess.
When it comes to getting a vintage inspired dress and channeling your inner Grease Lightning character, the bigger the poof the better. There’s something so fun and flirty about a high waist thrills skirt, and the spring and summer season are the perfect time for both of those things. The best part? Our High Waist Thrills Skirt even comes with pockets just like the real retro deal. So, our thrills skirt is definitely a must have you’ll want to be twirling in this year.
Gently flatten the back of the roll and curls under to close off the back of the victory roll (since this is the more traditional look that we’re going for), making sure to bobby pin well! Shape the front of the roll as needed, make sure to bobby pin the roll from the inside out, and spray well with hairspray. Repeat step #3 and #4 with the other side, and your rolls are done!
Throughout most of the decade, no woman would be caught outside without a hat on their head giving rise to many popular styles. While it would still be a couple of years before Jacqueline Kennedy would encourage every woman in America to wear a pillbox hat, they were starting to gain in popularity. One of the reasons that women loved them so much was that it was easy to change adornments on the hat to update last year’s outfit. You can do the same today when you get this hat from Polyvore(@polyvore).
The Poodle Do is the style in this photo. It was recreated by stylist Magic Michael Davids and made famous in the 1940s and 1950s on celebrities such as Lucille Ball and Betty Grable. Those were the decades of ultimate feminine style where ladies would go to the hair salon and get their hair set in curls and dressed out using skilled techniques that have nearly been lost today. The invention of the straightening iron may have contributed to this.
That’s where reproduction boutiques come in. Many shops have popped up within the last decade to reproduce items from the post-war time period, some even using original patterns and fabrics. If you’re looking to try out a pillbox hat like Midge Maisel, interested in a classic red lipstick, or thinking of going full pinup, there are lots of options at myriad price points, not to mention styles and sizes for many bodies.
These types of retro swimsuit bottoms leave much more to the imagination than those itsy bitsy thong bikinis that seem to be “the thing” in this modern-day world, making them mysterious and sexy. And as the saying goes, less is not always more and our high waist retro bottoms are the perfect example of just that. Cinched at the waist before extending slightly above, these retro bikini bottoms will give you a perfect silhouette and all the comfort and coverage you desire.
For the makeup, I put a warm eyeshadow color like a brown in my crease with cream colored shadow on the lid to make my eyes pop without stealing the show. I used a brown liquid liner for my cat eye. Black looks harsh on me, so I prefer the softness of a dark brown. A structured brow is important for pin up looks, so I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow pomade. Blush is important for pin up looks to make you look lively. I also softened the look by going with a nude/pink lip rather than the typical bright red.
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Modern art – art for the masses, that is – is supposed to be fun and flirty, which is why this collection of American pin-up art is so incredible to scan through. Regardless of how you feel about the whole idea of Russia and its current state of affairs, you have to admit that this is a new blend of talent that shows off all sorts of things at once. If you know anything about Russia and their rules, you understand that their Soviet social posters are important in terms of their rigid rules and propriety. All of that is ridiculed in a tasteful way by spicing them up with pin-up art that really makes you take a second glance at these posters.
To hit the jackpot of vintage style, locate that crumpled up underskirt that you were forced to wear once underneath a hideous bridesmaid dress when you were a teenager, but couldn't bear to part with for sentimental reasons. Maybe you were a dancer or have some dancer/actor friends who are bound to have an underskirt in every color of the rainbow from their various performances. If you manage to get ahold of one, it really does make a swing dress sing.
Pin up curls seem to look like the classic Hollywood ones, but they have some differences. The first ones should look cold, tight, and shiny, if following the path of our stylish predecessors without any changes. The Hollywood curls represents a light variant of pin up style, and so they don’t need firm setting styling or a lot of time. However, we suppose that every girl, who adores those Hollywood waves, will like the pin up curls as well!
Dressing in vintage style clothing for a themed event or personal fashion is our passion. We turned a hobby into this website to make it easy to find vintage inspired clothing for women and men online spanning 1900-1960s. Our fashion history blog helps you create the look from decades past using vintage, vintage inspired and thrifty clothing, Need help? Ask us anytime.
Rock a retro look with a side of sexy when you wear pin-up clothing from Unique Vintage. We’re all about that sassy style that shows off your curves while turning heads. If you fancy yourself a fabulous fashionista, then it’s time to stock your closet with pin-up appeal. Whether it’s a rockabilly swing dress or a pair of fun sailor shorts, you’ll look oh-so-sexy when you step out in an outfit from our curated collection.
Read my article Sammy Davis, for complete details, but no fashion designer had more influence on the 1950s fashion than Christian Dior. His influence can be seen in the A-line dress that he introduced in the spring of 1955. Until that point, women had worn fashions with tightly nipped-in waist and broad shoulders. The A-line was seen as radical because of its narrow shoulders, elongated waistline and trumpet-like flared hemline. Take a look at this vintage A-line dress from Rose Wholesale (@rosewholesale_official) to create this look for yourself.
