Miss Sou’West Pinup Contest Preparation!

Good afternoon lovelies, This year I’m helping organise the fabulous Miss Sou’West Pinup Contest with the talented Sarah of Red Leopard Photography, taking place in beautiful south west of Western Australia. The Miss Sou’West Vintage Fest, is an event like no other, celebrating women, celebrating all things vintage, and celebrating you! If you’d like to be involved in the pinup contest, or the event in any way please email missswvf@gmail.com. For all information please visit the official Facebook page. To aid competitors on their pinup journey, I’ve created this blog to guide them through how to prepare for this event. At a later date closer to the event I will post another blog on what to expect on the day, last minute prep, and how to deal with the nerves of performing. The contest has changed a little this year, to make for a bigger and better event. The contestants have one category: western theme wear, where they will have one minute on stage to perform a routine consisting of poses and movement using props, and costume to portray a theme, or story related to the western theme. With industry professionals judging, the winning lady will receive many wonderful prizes from our very generous sponsors, as well as the fantastic opportunity of performing, meeting new friends, and taking part in a fabulous event! Preparing your routine: You have one minute on stage to wow the judges, where you’re required to have a minimum of 5 poses, with a theme of ‘western’. Each pose is help for a minimum of 4 seconds. In this time you’ll need to shine on stage through confidence and vintage glamour. When creating your routine its good to research as much as possible to find a storyline/theme that matches the contests theme. Looking up artwork by Gil Elvgren and watching old movies like Pin Up Girl with Betty Grable are great inspiration. Once you have this, for creating your routine its good to think of choreographing events, rather than a dance routine, as this is a pinup contest. You want to have a bold entrance and exist on stage as this will really stand out to the audience members and judges. Having a storyline will make creating this routine much easier and make your performance much more memorable, for instance I once competed having a beach BBQ as my theme, I walked on stage with a vintage BBQ, pretending to light and cook on this, then bathed in the sun, after having this story to follow the poses created themselves. Never forget; glamour above all things, pinups are not practical, if you look at Gil Elvgrens art, there will be a pinup painting a picture in her finest day dress, and silk stockings. To have the best possible mark its important to take into account important aspects that you’ll be judged upon to have the best possible performance (these are listed below). When you’ve finished creating your routine, its a good idea to have a spectator (friend or family member) watch what you’ve created so you can have a second set of eyes to give you feedback on what you can improve on. Its important to take this onboard as no matter how good you are, there’s always room for improvement, the person reviewing us is not trying to hinder us, but rather help us grow. Upon reaching this stage you need to rehearse your routine as frequently as possible, as this will let you body’s muscle memory kick in, so rather than trying to remember what to do, you’re able to perform more. You’ll also want to practice in full hair, makeup, costume and props to ensure everything runs smoothly, more often than not there can be a costume malfunction that’s easily averted by rehearsing this. What you’ll be judged on: Entry Photo:

Pinup styled hair and makeup, reminiscent to the 1940′s and 1950′s.
Vintage styled clothing, that would be seen a either a classic or modern day pinup.
Pinup styled pose.
Strong facial expression.
Confidence, pinup girls aren’t shy.

Hair & Makeup:

Authentic 1940′s or 1950′s makeup and hair
Neat application, and emphasising natural beauty.
Bold stage makeup, rather than soft day makeup.
All hair and makeup is completed by yourself.

Clothing:

Vintage styled (reproduction or true vintage), that would be seen a either a classic or modern day pinup.
Related to theme, and your storyline.
Flattering to your body shape.

Poses:

Pinup styled poses, reminiscent of the vintage eras.
If you include any unique/difficult poses.
Correct body alignment (good posture, strong movement, flattering to body shape, no flexed feet, and so forth).
Engaging the audience through poses and movement.
Strong facial expression
Confidence.
Eye contact with audience.
Use of props and costume
Strong entrance and exit.

Theme:

How well your theme is related to the ‘western’ theme.
How unique the theme is.
How well the theme is executed through your poses, styling, and props.

Other preparation:

Practice your hair and makeup as often as you can, it’s an important aspect to have, and without this even the most amazing pose won’t have the same affect. Its important to not neglect any aspect of hair and makeup, as ignoring something as simple as emphasising your eyebrows will completely change the look, and have much less impact. Pinups are very expressive, and the makeup aids this, especially on stage. In saying this also you cannot pass day makeup on stage, you need bold stage makeup that will be able to seen by all the audience members. I have a few photo tutorials available by following this link, and will soon have video tutorial available online.
Be sure to be in a healthy routine, eating good foods, getting the right amount of sleep, and exercising regularly will all aid with helping you feel the best you possible can, and give you extra confidence.
Help promote Miss Sou’West, it’s a huge help to all the organisers who are working very hard to put this event on for you, and will make for a much better show having a large supportive audience, and even more so with your loving friends and family present.

Performance Tips:

Don’t look down at your feet, or the spot you’re walking to, you want to be looking up into the audience to engage them. The more you ‘communicate’ with them, the more they’ll enjoy your performance.
Don’t face away from the audience for too long without looking back; you lose the connection you have with them.
Put all your belief and confidence into what you’re doing, the moment you don’t believe yourself the audience doesn’t believe you.
If something goes horribly wrong, keep smiling and act like it was meant to happen, the moment you look sad something went wrong, or stop on stage to fix something the audience and judges will know. No one but you knows your routine, so if something goes wrong we don’t know, you can even make a fall look like it was meant to happen.
Keep your posture strong, shoulders relaxed, no hunched back, strong movement, and your body in correct alignment, when you become stiff or raise your shoulders it makes you look stressed through your body language.
Don’t be afraid to improvise a wink, cheeky wave, a or move that you think will be more effective. Improvising tends to not have that over-choreographed look, and usually will engage the audience more.
Above all of this, don’t take the contest too seriously, have fun; you’re doing this for you. The confidence that comes from being able to perform on stage is astronomical and truly does make it all worth it.

I hope my advice is helpful to all those fabulous aspiring pinups, myself and Sarah very much look forward to meeting you at Miss Sou’West. Don’t forget if you have any question I’m more than happy for you to email them through to me at contact@ladylace.com.au.

Much love,