Previous models tips

[Jump to photo gallery] I have had the good fortune to work with some very lovely models over the years. Many of these girls turned out to be rather good at doing the “vintage thing”too and they often have a lot of useful tips to offer. This part of the site is here to show you some previous models tips, to achieve their classic concave waists and vintage hourglass silhouettes.

With first time models, we generally plan a “retro fitness” session as our first set, in which we ask these girls to try a series of old-fashioned deportment and posture exercises. These old-fashioned techniques that worked on girls way-back the 40’s 50’s and 60’s still work just as well with modern girls today. Interestingly, previous models tips can also be very helpful for mature models and for ladies getting back into shape after pregnancy.

Leonie Tidy, getting back into shape after pregnancy, posture collage, 2015-05-16 Leonie Tidy, getting back into shape after pregnancy, working on her posture, 2015-05-16

How it started

I first got the idea from one of my very early models, who wanted to copy the images that her father took back in the 1950s. Sadly she is not on the internet. Then I met a Filipino girl called Cathy whose mother made her and her sisters do these exercises when they were kids. Then there was Debbie Allanson. She was into the old-fashioned posture thing and I often used to hire her to teach other models how to do it.Debbie was very good at it to and her “previous models tips” still form the basis of many lf the routines we still do today

1998-10-02 Debbie and Taryn retro fitness shoot - corset belt to pull in Taryn's tummy and improve her posture
1998-10-02 Debbie and Taryn’s first retro fitness shoot together. Debbie uses corset belt to pull in Taryn’s tummy and improve her posture.

Chiara

Then came Chiara Borgonovo. She often used to bring her much younger friends along to shoots. Even though they were very young and pretty, Chiara always managed to outshine them somehow. We soon concluded this was because Chiara paid great attention to her posture – shoulders back, tummy in etc. etc. So we decided to direct these lasses to do the same – expecting them to complain. However, they loved it! And the difference it made to them was simply amazing and many of them kept coming back for more shoots. Chiara turned out to be a very kind but persuasive teacher.

Chiara in 2004 straightening her friend Carlie's back whilst making her tuck in her tummy.
Candid mirror shot of Chiara (right) taken whilst preparing for a shoot 2004-01-25, correcting her young friend Carlie’s posture – teaching her to straighten her back and tuck-in her tummy.

Then there was Lora and Amy. Their grandmother had been a model in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s. When they were growing up, she was always nagging them to pull back their shoulders, straighten their backs and tuck in their tummies. She made them do exercises to get them in shape some of which are shown below. At the time Lora and Amy thought it was a bit boring, but they humoured her anyway. Now they are models themselves, granny’s teachings all make perfect sense. Sadly their grandmother is dead now. But I think she would be proud of them.

Lora and Amy figure control - working through the figure control routines that their grandmother used to teach them
Lora and Amy working through the figure control routines that their grandmother used to teach them.

Two-girl shoots

Sometime girls turn up who take particular delight in controlling ther figure with vintage corsetry such as Vixxen and Olive Cartley, or have that perfect posture, such as classically trained dancers, Kirsten Ria, Fleur Louise Hunt and Dayna Leigh. And of course bellydancer Stephy Samer – who has done a number of fabulous shoots with me, including one where she taught her sister Isabelle how to pose the retro way!

In fact, I particularly enjoy two-girl retro-fitness shoots. Part of the fun of pin-up is when the two models take turns to make each other look good. Other examples include a wonderful fitness shoot with dancer and fitness fanatic Jazmine “Jazz” Wrann and teamed up with one of my all-time favourite models, Laura Toy. And my fitness pinup shoot with mother and daughter Heydi and ShannonPagee

"Chest up, tummy in!" Mother and daughter, Heydi and Shannon in striped one-shoulder one-piece swimsuits during their retro fitness session in my studio, 2015-11-21
“Chest up, tummy in!” Mother and daughter, Heydi and Shannon in striped one-shoulder one-piece swimsuits during their retro fitness session in my studio, 2015-11-21

We have worked many, many more models, who really enjoyed the who retro-fitness deportment thing. Of course we don’t take it too seriously – this is pinup after all! But we know that a little attention to posture and deportment makes a massive difference to the way models look.

2017-08-19 Natty Badger vintage pinup posture guide - shows right and wrong way to take a side-on shot of a standing pinup model.

Anyway, they say a picture says a thousand words. Well here’s a large bundle of random snaps of these lasses working on their figures, the old-fashioned vintage pinup way…

Previous models tips, in pictures


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