Pin up 29
May 18th, 1944 - A variation of the old Police Gazette, that used to keep customers happy in grandfather’s day, is this collection of pinup cuties adorning the wall of this barber shop at a U.S. It’s taken a decidedly more alternative bent in recent years with the popularity of Bettie Page, Dita Von Teese, Suicide Girls, etc., all of which have helped to keep pinup fanaticism front and center. It’s an art form expressed through performance, photography, fashion, music, tattoos, etc., that is with us to this day. It also served to launch the careers of many a young Hollywood starlet.
Maybe you see it as an objectification of women, but the fact is it kept soldier’s morale up in dark, harrowing and uncertain times. The pinup was a reminder to troops of what awaited back home, and as us men go, served as the ultimate motivator to the male psyche– T&A. Though its origins can be traced further back, it was WWII that really put pinups on the map. Betty Grable, in what may be the most iconic pinup image of all time.