You can’t be anything but eye candy in vintage inspired pin up dresses with A-line, pencil or circle skirts that dance with your every step. A wide cinch belt helps define your waist and add a contrasting color to your pinup fashion. The strapless, spaghetti or halter neck pin up dresses are the most popular 50s pinup clothing for summer. Pin up dresses with sleeves are harder to find however with a little crop or cardigan sweater sleeveless dresses are wearable all year long.
Lastly, I smoothed the front with Suavecita Pomade and finished with R+Co’s Outerspace Flexible Hairspray. In short, curl the hair with a small curling iron ans set it using a heat protectant. Tease the front into two sections and mold one side into a victory roll facing forward, and the other side into a barrel role going back. Use a lightweight pomade or wax to smooth and a flexible hairspray to set.
Trashy Diva: The bright patterns and colors on Trashy Diva’s in-house line of dresses are really special, and the brand also carries a small collection of accessories and jewelry, as well as children’s versions of the adult-sized dresses. The clothing cuts are some of the most accurate when it comes to replicating the styles of the ’40s through ’60s, and despite the shop name, the stuff is totally appropriate for work, too.
A polka dot dress is always a must have for vintage inspired outfits, regardless of the season. After all, it’s a classic! However, the modern-day fashion trends for spring and summer have also fallen in love with the polka dot look which is great news for ladies with a retro wardrobe. After all, you’ve been perfecting the polka dot look all this time. So, now is the perfect time to show the world how to wear polka dot dresses like a fashion icon from the 50’s in this vintage red hot pencil dress.
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).
Though Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page are often cited as the classic pin-up, there were many women of color who were also considered to be impactful. In the 1920s two of the most notable Black burlesque dancers were Josephine Baker and Lottie Graves. Despite the little history on Black burlesque dancers, Baker and Graves are a good starting point for evaluating women of color in pin-up. Dorothy Dandridge and Eartha Kitt also added to the pin-up style of their time, using their looks, fame, and personal success. African-American pin-up finally had a platform when the magazine, Jet, was created in 1951. Jet supported pin-up as they had a full page feature called, "Beauty of the Week", where African-American women posed in a swimsuits and such. This was intended to showcase the beauty these women possessed as they lived in a world where their skin color was under constant scrutiny. It was not until 1965 that Jennifer Jackson became the first African American to be published in Playboy as Playmate of the Month. And it was not until 1990 that Playboy's Playmate of the Year was an African-American woman, Renee Tenison. Historically, women of color in pin-up are still not as common as their white counterparts. However, the recent revival of pin-up style has propelled many women of color today to create and dabble with the classic pin-up look to create their own standards of beauty. In Jim Linderman's self-published book, Secret History of the Black Pin Up,[37] he describes the lives and experiences of African-American pin-up models.
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).
Voodoo Vixen: While the brand has the same themes as many of these other shops (swing dresses for everyone!), Voodoo Vixen has two unique angles. It does collaborations with popular retro bloggers — like this winter’s collection with Chicago Chic — and it creates its own vintage-inspired prints in house (this nautical dress is everything), which means you can’t get some of these looks anywhere else.
Pin up hairstyles can work for those with very short hair too. It’s just a matter of how you style it. She has used the length of her hair to the maximum advantage by sweeping the bangs to the side and backcombing the crown section. You can copy this cute hairstyle if you wear a pixie. Add in a polka dot bow and you’ll get proper short pin up hair.
Capris also came into popularity during the 1950s as everyone wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn in her latest hits. This style of pant was actually introduced by Sonja de Lennart in 1948. Many women wanted to pretend they had Italian roots by wearing black capris with a red and white knit shirt. Others chose to wear blue capris with the same shirt to pretend that they were European. Alternatively, many paired capris with a white ruffled shirt creating a Spanish look, especially when wearing a bolero jacket. Recreate your own Audrey Hepburn look by getting these capris from ModCloth (@modcloth).
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.
Started in 1999 by Laura Byrnes, Pinup Girl Clothing is best known for its high quality, vintage inspired, made in the USA fashions. Composed of its house brands Pinup Couture, Deadly Dames, Dixiefried Clothing, and Laura Byrnes California it covers styles from the sweet demure to the vampy vixen and beyond. Embracing body positivity, Pinup Girl Clothing designs dresses in sizes ranging from XS to 4XL. Once you try one of their pieces, you'll know why so many other have fallen in love!
Next up is your makeup. Start with your standard foundation. One of the most notable things about pin up models is their smooth complexions. Use a full coverage foundation that matches your skin tone well. You can use a concealer to disguise any blemishes or dark spots on your skin in this step. On to the eyebrows, make sure they’re well shaped and filled in. Your eyes will follow, a smoky eye or bare eye paired with cat-eye or pin up style liner is a great way to bring some added pop to your pin up style outfit. Your lips should also make a big statement, pin ups often times wear oxblood colors, reds, or berry shades.
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!
