Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, 1955

Jayne Mansfield's leopard spot bikini was regular wardrobe for actress and blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield in her publicity stunts.[1][2] Because of the costume she came to be known as "the girl in the leopard bikini" at times.[3] Throughout the 1950s, she and her husband Mickey Hargitay posed for photos with her in the leopard spot bikini.[4] The couple wore matching leopard spots to announce their closeness,[5] and the costume won them a prize at a Hollywood costume party.[6] Mansfield often walked down the Hollywood Boulevard in the leopard bikini signing autographs,[7] once went shopping in the leopard bikini,[8] and attended parties in it.[9][10]

When Mansfield and her husband Miklós Hargitay toured for stage shows, newspapers wrote that Mansfield convinced the rural population that she owned more bikinis than anyone.[11] She showed a fair amount of her 40-inch (1,000 mm) bust, as well as her midriff and legs, in the leopard-spot bikini she wore for her stage shows.[12] Kathryn Wexler of The Miami Herald wrote, "In the beginning as we know it, there was Jayne Mansfield. Here she preens in leopard-print or striped bikinis, sucking in air to showcase her well noted physical assets."[13] Her leopard-skin bikini remains one of the earlier specimens of the fashion.[14] As late as in 1982, she appeared in a full page color photograph in the leopard spot bikini in Tony Crawley's Screen Dreams: The Hollywood Pin-up.[15] American Photo magazine printed photographer Bruno Bernard's photo of Mansfield in the costume in 2003.[16]

Sources

  • Strait, Raymond (1992). Here They Are Jayne Mansfield. New York: S.P.I. Books. ISBN 978-1-56171-146-8.
  • Faris, Jocelyn (November 1994). Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28544-8.
  • Saxton, Martha (1975). Jayne Mansfield and the American Fifties. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-20289-0.

References

  1. ↑ Staff Correspondent (March 12, 1986). "The bare facts at last, all those hours at the gym will pay off with spring's slightly skimpy fashions". Miami Herald. p. D1.
  2. ↑ Kilgallen, Dorothy (July 22, 1964). "Jayne's Touring Strawhats in Bikinis". The Washington Post. p. B11.
  3. ↑ Kelly Killoren Bensimon, The bikini book, page 45, Thames & Hudson, 2006, ISBN 9780500513163
  4. ↑ Jane Woolridge, "Bare it and grin this spring", The News and Courier, page 3, 1986-04-03
  5. ↑ Saxton 1975, p. 94
  6. ↑ "Muscular hoist for Jayne", Life, page 59, 1956-11-12
  7. ↑ John Waters, Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters, page 113, Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 9780743246279
  8. ↑ Strait 1992, pp. 74–76
  9. ↑ "Bikini clad Jayne Mansfield carried to party by friend", Daytona Beach Morning Journal, page 7, 1956-10-29
  10. ↑ "Ballyhoo Ball wildest one yet in Hollywood", Herald-Journal, page 3, 1956-10-28
  11. ↑ Dorothy Kilgallen, "Jayne's Touring Strawhats in Bikinis", Washington Post, page B11, 1964-07-22
  12. ↑ Staff Correspondent, "The bare facts at last, all those hours at the gym will pay off with spring's slightly skimpy fashions", Miami Herald, page D1, 1986-03-12
  13. ↑ Kathryn Wexler, "Old-time eroticism: When bikinis really mattered", Miami Herald, 2006-04-19
  14. ↑ Jennifer Steinhauer, "In, Damned Spot!, New York Times, 1997-05-11
  15. ↑ Faris 1994, p. 159
  16. ↑ "Inside Photography", American Photo, page 13, Jan-Feb 2003
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