What is the significance of the flower?

[Tabitha]

Just curious if there is a meaning behind pinup girls wearing big flowers in their hair. Maybe there isn't one. Like when people ask me the meaning behind my tattoos...there isn't one, I simply just liked a pic and that's what I wanted. So maybe we just like the way the flower looks in our hair and it makes us feel more feminine.

Do you wear a flower in your hair? And do you think there is a reason why its so popular in the lifestyle?

[Poppy Fields]

Between the cherries and the flowers, we are dirty, dirty girls! I guess what they say is true ;)

sfphotojournal said:

It's because flowers are reproductive organs and by displaying alluring reproductive organs it increases one's possiblity of mating.

[Wink Holliday]

Every time I put a flower in my hair, I think of the "Road" movies!

Uncle Fezter & Uncle Fezter's Flowers said:

I gotta go with Pin-ups Hair Design Inc. on this one. Yes, some cultures have used hair flowers to denote availability, being off the market, etc. But here... It's an accessory. If there's roots for American pop culture, it's Hollywood, music... even comics. In my travels as an archival researcher, and always having been on the lookout for cool vintage pics, hair flowers show up everywhere. From Dorothy Lamour wearin' 'em in 'Road' movies, to Tiki culture, record albums, L'il Abner... Ya just see a lotta hair flowers. Think of how many times ya mighta seen a woman (or a man) place a fresh flower in her hair in a tender or romantic scene' or conversely, placing a flower in a man's jacket or tux lapel.

[Roxy Tart {PL Team / Comm. Mgr}]

I wear them for different reasons. To add color to an outfit, to accentuate the color in an outfit, to cover a hair mistake, but the main reason is because flower are pretty, and I like pretty things. As for why they are so big in the pinup world, I have no clue, but I love wearing them.

[Edson Carlos]

Pollination.

[Sickgirl Creations *SGC*{PLA}]

Well if you want to go way back to the begining of the Pin Up look then you would have to look to the 1940's. During World War II there were many civilian shortages, substitution became a way of life stateside, affecting everyday life. Even though makeup and lipsticks were considered necessary for persevering wartime spirits, some ingredients were no longer available. A lot of goods affecting style were in short supply, from castor oil and zinc to acetone.

Most of the women state side were expected to keep on looking good for the moral of the solders fighting abroad, and since stuff like Hair dye to cover any premature grays and nail polish were hard to come by girls would use hats, and gloves to cover the things that could not be prettied up with paint or dye.

As far as the flowers in the hair that tradition came to the US and abroad from the polonysian influences in Hawaii. It was a cheap way for a girl to beautify her face and style and to advertise if she was single or taken. Alot of the USO cantina girls that would volunter to dance with the solders to keep up there moral would wear the flowers to let the guys know if they were available or if they had a sweetheart that was abroad.

In Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific there is meaning in which side you wear your flower on. Just like a ring on the finger the left is taken and the right is available. and I guess if you really want to confuse everyone put one on both sides and you a swinger.

I hope this helps...

XOXOX,
Lilith Lavey
*SGC*

[Kim Bombshell]

I like to wear them because they are pretty and feminine. They also complete the vintage look, since many women wore them in the 40s.

[Delyssia LaBelle {Madam}]

i think it was seen in the art alot, the classic culture then had a thing for island life and hula/tiki style things, i think that is where the flower in the hair came from, pluss remember the unforgetable

cover of billy holliday with all those flowers in her hair!?

[Cassie Wanda]

Cheers.

Pin-ups Hair Design Inc. said:

Mating...?
It's a hair accessory, just like a hair clip or any other object you put in your hair. It's both function and form. Reproductive organs...? Perhaps, way back in primal cave man times. If we want, we can do this with everything, I suppose. Christmas trees, easter eggs, etc etc... I'm sure there's some meaning to lots of things we do, but geez.... It's a flower, for christ sakes.

[Gillian Davis]

Hi! Not sure if this answer is accurate for the USA, but I do know that here in the UK the trend for wearing a flower in your hair came about during WW2 when fabric was very heavily rationed. As a result, hats and headwear in general had to be considered more carefully, and headwear became more experimental (carpet-hat anyone?). Inexpensive single stems were used to create an 'exotic' look, whilst still sticking to the Utilitarian standards of the time.

And I LOVE wearing my silky waterfalls of orchids! (Plus I'm always broke, so the concept remains the same!)

So there you go!!!x

[Raven Foxx]

Great research Lilth! I always like origins and little known facts!

Sickgirl Creations said:

Well if you want to go way back to the begining of the Pin Up look then you would have to look to the 1940's. During World War II there were many civilian shortages, substitution became a way of life stateside, affecting everyday life. Even though makeup and lipsticks were considered necessary for persevering wartime spirits, some ingredients were no longer available. A lot of goods affecting style were in short supply, from castor oil and zinc to acetone.

Most of the women state side were expected to keep on looking good for the moral of the solders fighting abroad, and since stuff like Hair dye to cover any premature grays and nail polish were hard to come by girls would use hats, and gloves to cover the things that could not be prettied up with paint or dye.

As far as the flowers in the hair that tradition came to the US and abroad from the polonysian influences in Hawaii. It was a cheap way for a girl to beautify her face and style and to advertise if she was single or taken. Alot of the USO cantina girls that would volunter to dance with the solders to keep up there moral would wear the flowers to let the guys know if they were available or if they had a sweetheart that was abroad.

In Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific there is meaning in which side you wear your flower on. Just like a ring on the finger the left is taken and the right is available. and I guess if you really want to confuse everyone put one on both sides and you a swinger.

I hope this helps...

XOXOX,
Lilith Lavey
*SGC*