Jayne Mansfield's leopard spot bikini

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