In keeping with this month’s theme; meet The Modern Pin Up.

It isn’t often that one has semi naked pictures of their friends in their homes; that is unless you’re running some kind of 70′s party game.. but let’s not go there. The recent launch of the new coffee table book, “The Modern Pin Up” means just that; that I can sit back and admire some of the fantastic handiwork of my friends both behind and in front of the lens.  A stunning collection of modern pin up photographs that run the gamut from classic, to cyber; gothic to glam and everything in between. What these works have in common is celebration; celebration of fun, form and fantasy as each of these women collaborate with their photographers to let us share a piece of their world.

Staring back at me from the candy coloured cover, is the delightful and diminutive darling Bernie Dexter (we have a mutual girl crush going on), with her rosy cheeks and warm smile. As you turn each page the eyes that catch yours may be familiar or may be new acquaintances, but each has their own charm. With images by Shannon Brooke,Via Marie Studios, and even one of my Australian photographers Peter Coulsen amongst many others, the quality of the work is exceptional. Many of the ladies I have a soft spot for are featured numerous times throughout;  Danya Deluxe, Sabina Kelley, Dita Von Teese, Frankie Sin and fellow Australian model Samantha Doll.

I know how much we love to search out our favourite image online these days, but there is something wonderful, thrilling and personal about having these images to hold in your hand. The Modern Pin Up has earn it’s place on my bookshelf next to Gil Elvgren for a reason. This is the pinnacle of pin up art today.

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Today’s daily outfit (okay it wasn’t actually today as I’m a bit behind), is something a bit different. Because it has been so cold here, and in fact the day I wore this it was hailing like crazy; we weren’t able to go and take any pics outside. So for something different, Helen and I shot this in the studio after we finished with our clients for the day.

We love to play around with different set ups and lighting, so this was a bit of fun for us and I was totally in love with the result!  This is one of my favourite new pieces, brought home from Trashy Diva in New Orleans and available in Australia through Miskonduct Klothing. The “Courtney coat dress” in this killer leopard print. It has a full skirt and a double button up waist band that give it a beautiful cinched finish. I did wear this over another dress but didn’t want to take it off it was so cold! In a nutshell, what I love about this piece is that it makes a statement; and with statement pieces you have to be careful just how you pull them off. Of course for me, it is always going to be high drama, with a strong red lip and a bit of attitude. So that is how we shot the one – full of drama and so very ‘me’ that this is akin to a very personal introduction in just one simple image.

Pleased to meet you!

Outfit Details

Trashy Diva “Courtney Coat Dress

Lips- MAC Russian Red with RIMMEL clear gloss on top

Nails – OPI ‘Big Apple Red’

Helen McLean and Candice DeVille in at the Helen McLean Photography studio.

Following on from yesterday’s advice on my Top Ten Tips on How To Be A Pin Up Model, today I have something for those of you who would like all the fun without any of the commitment. For those ladies who’d like to be a Pin Up for a day and come home with some images that will do wonders for your sense of self. No matter which photographer you book with, being prepared to look your best will put you ahead of the game and help you get the best bang for your buck, (no pun intended)! So if I hear you saying, “help me, I want to look like a pin up!” then this will get you started.

It is your photographer and stylist’s job to make you look the best possible pinup version of yourself as we can, but there is only so much that can be done in a day. Putting in a little time and effort before hand, giving them the best canvas to work with, will ensure that everyone is happy.

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Sleep.

Above all else, prioritise your sleep for at least a week before your shoot. There is only so much anti wrinkle cream can do, and with a good 8 plus hours under your belt each night for the week proceeding, you’ll look all the better for it.

Drink.

No, not the giggly bubbly stuff, but instead make sure you up your water intake if you’re lagging behind. Well hydrated skin, both inside and outside, photographs far better than the crepe paper hide that many of us are prepared to live with.

Moisturise.

Start a daily routine of moisturising all over at least a week before your shoot. You never know what parts of your skin will be on display (this includes your feet), so don’t neglect them.

Manis & Pedis.

The perfect Pin Up always has the perfect manicure, be it red or pink; but painting your nails the morning of your appointment is fraught with disaster. Prepare by having this done a day or two in advance and you won’t get smudged polish on your fancy outfit.  Personally, I’m a fan of Shellac manicures and especially pedicures for their high sheen, no smudge finish achieved in no time.

Eyebrows.

The Frida Kahlo look is not in. Despite the recent fashion shoots channelling her un-groomed brows, this is not acceptable for Pin Up. You should always have your brows professionally shaped, and there is only so much your stylist can do if you don’t. I keep tweezers in my kit not only for applying false lashes, so caterpillar brows – approach at your own risk!

Hair.

Super clean hair is very hard to style and if you want those amazing bouncy curls instead of limp spaghetti, you’re better off to wash your hair the day before your shoot. Unless your hair is extremely oily in day two (and I mean extremely), just skip it and leave it for your stylist to turn into a masterpiece.

*Things you should not do with your hair the day of or before your shoot-

Colour, cut, straighten or even a treatment. All these things actually make it harder for you to achieve the look you’re aiming for.

Lips.

Dry, cracked or flaking lips will never, ever look good in red lipstick. And Pin Up simply cannot exist without those full red lips. So do those beauties a favour and exfoliate and treat them in the week leading up. A soft dry brushing with a baby’s tooth brush is all that is needed to remove old skin cells. Then make sure to treat them with an organic paw paw ointment overnight, every night, for the best results.

Makeup.

Always come to your shoot with your face clean, moisturised and for god’s sake… without fake tan! A classic Pin Up is not tangerine and trust me, you may think a tan makes you look better, but when your orange heels show up in your images you’ll be less than impressed.

Wardrobe.

Even if you are being supplied with wardrobe choices by your photo studio, there are some things you should always bring to be on the safe side.

Skin coloured, strapless bra and g-string (these are often worn underneath other garments like swimwear)

Sheer to waist pantyhose. If you have marks or bruises on your legs this is a good way to even out the skin tone with a subtle disguise.

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Keep all this in mind and you too could find yourself staring in your own Pin Up fantasy just like the fabulous Anneke here!

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As you probably gathered from my Facebook updates and my notable sporadic posting of late, I am still on tour and not always able to get internet service to post. But today I have a chance to stop, breathe and write you something new.

This weekend I’m up in sunny Queensland and have just finished three days at the Garterbelts and Gasoline Nostaligia Festival. It’s been a great chance to get to know a bunch of new people and meet loads of lovely ladies all full of questions.  There was one question I was asked so many times this weekend though, I thought I’d answer it here too. What they all wanted to know is, “What’s it like being a pinup model and what’s involved?”

So today I give you my:

 Top Ten Things to know about how to be a pin up model.

First and foremost, let me preface this by saying that there are only a small handful of girls world wide who are able to make this their full time career. For everyone else it is usually done in conjunction with another job or two. So don’t be fooled into thinking that gorgeous, glamorous photos will make you a millionaire.

1. Chose to do it for fun above all else, but know it is a whole lot of hard work. The hours can be long, the conditions less than ideal (summer swimsuit shoots in mid winter) and you need to have a decent pain tollerance for some of those shoes!

2. You need to be very flexible, both with your schedule and your body. In fact the workout you get posing is akin to a very long and strenuous pilates class. My Osteopath, massage therapist and Chiroprator are all kept in business by my shoot schedule.

3. You need to be prepared to invest. Whether it is in portfolio shoots with photographers, travel, competitions or diverse wardrobe choices, the dollars can add up quickly. And I’m not talking hundreds, I’m talking thousands.

4. You need to commit yourself to regular maintenance. It’s no good getting a call for a job at 5pm the night before and knowing you still have to colour your hair, get your nails done, legs waxed etc.. A regular schedule to keep your appearance up to scratch can’t be neglected. After all you are the product and you need to make sure your packaging is the best it can be.

5. You need to say no to that extra packet of M&M’s. Pinup modelling isn’t all about keeping the perfect sized 6 figure, that’s for sure; but you do need to look after your skin and your health. So eating well, sleeping well and excercising (no matter what your dress size) are all essential to making the best version of yourself that you can.

6. Know that every photographer works differently and you need to be prepared for all eventualities.  There is a little bit of Boy Scout mentality to all the sucessful pinup models I know. This includes bad weather, accidents, wardrobe malfunctions, other artists having creative meltdowns, working with animals and wardrobe changes in very, very public places.

7. You need to be nice. No one wants to work with difficult, demanding divas; so if you want to be asked back or recommended for other work, put in your best effort and know that it takes a team of talented people to create the best work. Not just one model.

8. Be honest. While it may be tempting to flesh out your qualifications with imagined experience or using other people’s reputation to trade on, (saying you’ve ‘worked’ with someone because you once stood in the same room doesn’t count) it will always catch you out. Experience shows when you work with people and you don’t want to be seen as not delivering the goods you’ve talked up.

9. Be realistic. Know that your look won’t be the right one for every job and just because you weren’t chosen doesn’t mean you should give up. Every client has different requirements and not being selected isn’t a personal attack, it’s a business decision.

10. Know who you’re working with.  For every wonderful, reputable photographer out there, there are another ten dodgy ones. If something sounds too good to be true it usually is, so do your research. Get online, research their previous work, clients and any testimonials. When in doubt about a photographer’s legitimacy or practices, ALWAYS take another trustworthy party with you to a shoot.

This is only touching the tip of the iceberg, but it gives you a good idea of whether you might have what it takes to bring it.  But like many of the girls I spoke to this weekend, you may just want to spend a little time in the pinup fanatsy world and have your own shoot and images to keep the moment alive.  If that sounds more your speed, I have a whole seperate Top Ten Tips for Sitting for a Pin Up Shoot. So stay tuned for the next installment tomorrow which wil be especially for you!

I’ve finally reached the half way mark in my studio redecorating project, and while I’m yet to pick out (and save up for) the perfect desk, I do have my “frog vomit green” carpet installed. Slowly but surely I am making my way through the boxes and boxes of extraneous bits and pieces that I need to get rid of, occasionally unearthing little treasures. Old news clippings of my great grandparents wedding anniversary, drawings from my children, the odd spider and even some proof sheets from my very first proper modelling job! (*aside* I find it amusing that at the time, 1997, I was considered a “mature” model as I was no longer in my teens).

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If you follow me on Intsagram or Twitter, you’ll have seen one of these pop up the other day. I was trying to remember all the things I loved at the time, the music I was listening to and what my aspirations were. Way back in those days before blogging and when the internet was just BBS’s (if you know what that is you’ve been here as long as me!), we had to rely on diaries and photos to keep track of such things. Because I was always faulty at keeping much of a record of my activities (ironic isn’t it?), I have to rely on the boxes of things that appear during these clean ups to remind me.

There was an old mix tape, my first ever cassingle (Poison’s Unskinny Bop?! Clearly I was trying to impress someone at that point), actual scrap books of clippings from fashion mags applied with paste, tightly held swap cards and even a few pictures of my favourite old hollywood stars.

Back before I could Google images and find exactly what I wanted to see, coming across vintage images of stars, their styling and wardrobes, wasn’t an easy thing. If you were very dedicated, you’d take blurry photos on a film camera of the screen shoot you’d paused on the crummy VHS recoding of that old film. I had, (and still have) every printed book of stage and screen stars my pocket money would buy me, some still indexed with colour coded book marks for era.

Before trawling op shops / thrift stores was trendy, it was essential for girls like me who wanted to learn from the past. And before the internet we were alone. Just a girl wearing dead people’s clothes, living in a fantasy world and making it come to life through lipstick.

And now that we have all that in our digital age; the connections, the community, the resources and knowledge, I have to ask…

What’s stopping you from becoming the version of yourself you truly want to be?