Photos of the Most Famous Pin-Up Models of All Time

Last updat­ed on May 30th, 2025 at 01:37 am

Pin-up artists and pin-up mod­els became a cul­tur­al phe­nom­e­non start­ing in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. The style is char­ac­ter­ized by images of beau­ti­ful women, usu­al­ly wear­ing bathing suits or glam­orous cloth­ing, strik­ing pos­es that high­light their fea­tures.

The term pin-up refers to the use of these pic­tures and draw­ings to be pinned up on walls in an infor­mal dis­play. They also appeared often dur­ing war times as a morale boost. They often appeared in cal­en­dars or as post­cards.

Many glam­our and fash­ion mod­els of the era became pin-up stars. Pho­to­shoots often con­tained the mod­els per­form­ing tasks, pos­ing in bathing suits, or loung­ing. All in posi­tion that accen­tu­at­ed their fea­tures.

Much of the style of pin-up pho­to­shoots and art comes from ear­ly bur­lesque per­form­ers such as Josephine Bak­er. Some of the most famous pin-up mod­els of the era were Bet­tie Page and Bet­ty Grable. Bet­ty Grable’s post cards became a com­mon dec­o­ra­tion in many World War II sol­diers’ bunks.

Let’s take a look at some of the most icon­ic pin-up mod­els of the time, includ­ing some art of the famous pin-up art that was cre­at­ed.