The LA Times has an article about the iconic and beautiful 40s and 50s pin-up/bondage model Bettie Page, who, at 82, no longer poses for photographs but enjoys her huge cult following.
She also designed her own costumes:
From the start, Page — whose measurements were 36-24-37 — preferred the skimpy outfits she designed and sewed at home.“I made all of my bikinis and most of my lingerie,” she said. “My favorite was my first bikini. It was green with a little rickrack all around it.”
Almost overnight, she became an underground sensation, attracting the attention of Irving Klaw and his sister, Paula, who operated a mail-order business specializing in cheesecake.
Page soon became the Klaws’ busiest pinup and also starred in their peekaboo short films, “Varietease” and “Striporama.”
They also had her pose with whips, tied up in chairs and wrestling with other women in their underwear. To hear her tell it, Page was deeply depressed and aimless when she joined the Klaws. The bondage shots are the only part of her modeling career she regrets.
“I had lost my ambition and desire to succeed and better myself; I was adrift,” she said.
“But I could make more money in a few hours modeling than I could earn in a week as a secretary.
“But I never whipped anybody in my life; it was all pretend. Under my arrangement with the Klaws, I had to do at least an hour of bondage poses in order to get paid for the other modeling work.”
