With red lips and capris, the American '50s pinup style returns

Young women are rediscovering the upbeat and forgiving styles of the 1940s and '50s. Jolie Clifford, 21, was inspired by the look of Bettie Page. Hiroko Masuike / The New York Times

She is a child of the 1990s, that decade of Starbucks, Nirvana and the wraithlike supermodel Kate Moss. But Jolie Clifford is having none of it.

Ms. Clifford, 21, a recent college graduate and an art photographer, was never a fan of the wan aesthetic that defined her crowd.

One day, while sifting through a trash container, she unearthed a 1950s Playboy magazine. Inside were photographs of Bettie Page showing off the trademark cherry-tone lips and little-girl bangs that made her the most popular pinup of her day.

"I know that back in the '50s, her images were porno material, but they're classy now," Ms. Clifford said. "I thought they were beautiful."

In deference to her new idol, she promptly trimmed her bangs and painted on winged eyeliner. She was quick to adopt the high-waist capri pants, swing skirts and halter tops that signaled her membership in a subculture composed mostly of women, mostly young, who like their cocktails sour, their music with rockabilly twang, and their personal contours on the shapely side.

They derive a sense of chic, and an unexpected emotional comfort, from reinventing themselves as contemporary incarnations of Ms. Page, or as modern-day retro-vixens like Katy Perry or Lana Del Rey, who have elevated the all-American calendar girl to an emblem of hip femininity.

Once fodder for magazines with evocative titles like Eyeful and Wink, the pinup has evolved as "a woman-friendly adaptation of what was once not a woman-friendly thing," said Jim Linderman, whose blog, Vintage Sleaze, examines that culture's less savory side. Admirers, he said, "have taken a negative and made it a positive and built some kind of commodity around it."

Staples of the pinup wardrobe have gained a surprising cachet on college campuses. "Pinup-inspired style is a trend that's only growing," said Zephyr Basine, the editor of Collegefashion.net, a blog written by undergraduate women, which recently highlighted tie-front shirts, polka-dot bikinis and sailor pants. "To women who have grown up with the spray-tanned, skinny models as their beauty ideal, this look is new and refreshing, and even groundbreaking."

Nostalgia driven, these young women are drawing inspiration from a trend that is only now hitting its stride, gaining currency through a recent spate of TV period dramas like "Pan Am" and "Magic City," movies ("My Week With Marilyn"), Web sites, photography shows, ad campaigns and fashion features revisiting the era of tail-fin sedans and voluptuous babes in skimpy lingerie.

"Campy interest in the soft-core photography of the '50s and '60s is on the rise," said Brian Wallis, the chief curator for the International Center of Photography in New York. It is evident, Mr. Wallis said, "not just in theoretical circles but in the culture at large. It's reflected in the headlines every day, and circulated on cellphones and iPads."

Bettie Page Clothing, a Web-based retailer with stores from Miami, Florida, to Santa Barbara, California, generated $15 million this year selling midcentury-inspired cocktail frocks, shorts and swimwear mainly to women under 35, said Jan Glaser, an owner.

"It's a niche, but it's a good-sized niche," Mr. Glaser said. "If it becomes too mainstream, it will turn off a lot of people. These young ladies want to think of themselves as free spirits."

On their spring runways, Jason Wu, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana paraded high-waisted swimsuits, tap pants and sundresses so modestly cut that they seemed prim. Recent issues of Vogue, Allure and W highlighted similar looks: sunnily updated, hypercolorized pinup shots that are the fashion equivalent of comfort food.

Ms. Clifford has long been obsessed with the fashions of film stars and burlesque queens, partly because of their feel-good sensibility. The hot rods, the music, the pinups: they are, she said, "part of a therapy culture."

"For me those things are like a baby blanket."

Not that she is ignoring their obvious cosmetic charms. "A high-waisted skirt makes you seem a little thinner," she said. "A halter top makes your bust a little bigger, and being propped on high heels - well, that just makes everything pop."