Preparing for a Pinup Contest

I competed in my first pinup contest last month and even thought I didn’t win I had a good time and I learned a lot.

The first thing I learned was all the preparation that was necessary.

For any pinup contest there are a number of things you need to think about.

The Basics:

• Outfit
• Hairstyle
• Makeup
• Props if any
• Posing routine

Then there are the specifics for each individual contest.

• Theme, if there is one. This can also affect the posing routine and props you choose.
• Contest questions. Sometimes you may be given a list of questions and not know which one you will be asked until you are on stage. Other times, there is a specific question everyone will be answering. You also may be given your specific question in advance if there is a list of possible questions.)

Thankfully, if there is a specific theme besides rockabilly/pinup it will usually be announced before or at the time that contest applications open. Should give you plenty of time to prepare.

The theme for the contest I was in was Vintage Prom. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked that and what I would wear. Then I remembered I had an actual vintage dress that a friend had bought me a few years before that would work perfectly. I then had to think about the rest of my outfit and props. I had fun researching prom in the 1950s and 1960s and got some good ideas for shoes and accessories. I also learned that dance cards were still used and decided to make one for my prop.

What took the most time:

• Finding and buying or ordering the things I needed for making my props.
• Buying the things I needed for hairstyling
• Researching 1950s hairstyles
• Practicing poses and figuring out a routine

New things I learned during this process:

• How to use a hot glue gun
• How to make hair flowers and wrist corsages (including making ribbon bows.)
• How to set my hair with rollers
• How to pin curl somewhat
• How to get my Bettie bangs looking decent
• A few new poses
• How to slow down and hold poses
• How to use my phone on a tripod for a photo shoot
• Winged eyeliner and using liquid eyeliner. I actually prefer it to pencil now.)

Challenges and takeaways:

The most difficult part of the preparation process for me was figuring out hairstyles and learning to set my hair. I had never done that before and hadn’t used a curling iron since I was a teenager. It also didn’t help that my hair is relatively short so it was hard to get rollers to stay in. I tried several different types of curlers and finally got snap on rollers to work for me. Pincurling worked but I’m still trying to get the hang of that. The curling iron wasn’t bad but it was hard to get more than loose waves considering my hair length. I still need to work on that some more.

Posing practice involved putting on the shoes I was going to wear and trying different poses. I also filmed myself doing a whole routine a few times. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in front of the camera and I actually liked how I looked. I think I got pose timing and holding for a five count down as well.

I’ll detail some of these preparations such as making my dance card and corsage in future posts. I’ll also detail my outfit more and the specific items I wore.