Bid Farewell to Summer With These Vintage Beach Babes
The pin-up babes of the ’40s and ’50s will always hold a special place in our beauty-loving hearts—they truly set the scene for all-out glamour on the big screen, and cannot be rivaled to this day. From Jayne Mansfield‘s bold red lips to Rita Hayworth‘s bleach-blonde bouffants, each bombshell had their own special “thing”—and certainly knew how to rock a bathing suit in order to get attention. To bid adieu to the end of summer, we’re throwing it back to some of our favorite vintage beach babes in all of their retro glory.
Before she had her long, wispy bangs, Brigitte Bardot had them in a shorter (very French) style. But take note: her brows were always on-point.
Elizabeth Taylor (who can pull off a one-piece like no one we’ve ever seen) had the brow arch of everyone’s dreams. With a voluminous bob and chiseled cheekbones, she knew how to take on a beach day.
Rita Hayworth—doing exactly what we’ll be doing all day today—was the queen of the bold red lip.
Esther Williams (who was a professional swimmer before she became a movie star) constantly showed us how to make hair accessories work—even in the water—in her films, like Jupiter’s Darling.
The legendary Marilyn Monroe (in a quite-scandalous bikini for her time) had a set of pin-curls that launched thousands of hair tutorials.
Ava Gardner was also one to stick to her signature look (which was actually designed by Mr. Max Factor himself) and favored heavy lashes, bold lips and strong brows.
Jane Russell (Marilyn’s counterpart in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) always had a very refined, side-parted and pinned curl—even when tossing a beach ball in the pool.
Jayne Mansfield knew how to turn heads, with her platinum blonde hair, bold lips and perfectly-groomed brows. And well, jumping in the fountain to cool off at Cannes…
