Created by illustrator Duane Bryers (1911-2012), Hilda was a girl who was definitely not shy of her plump body. She was one of the very few plus-size pin-up queens to grace the pages of American calendars from the 1950s up until the early 1980s and achieved moderate notoriety in the 1960s. This pin-up girl was almost forgotten until someone recently dug up her calendars from the archives and collective memories of Americans.
Now, the plus-size model is making a comeback, and Amy Pence-Brown is one of the main reasons why. The fat feminist mother who believes in opening her mouth and her heart started recreating Hilda's beautiful drawings, sharing the images with her online followers.
"Much like the art of Norman Rockwell, Duane Bryers' Hilda reminds us of playful, sweet, and carefree days gone by. But she recalls more than that, too. Hilda shows us that at some time someone else found big girls' curves sensual, silliness sexy, softness endearing, confidence bold and bare, skin beautiful. And that maybe, just maybe, we can find that in ourselves as well," Amy told Bored Panda. Continue scrolling and check out this notorious character in real life!
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Pence-brown has known about Hilda's pin-up drawings for quite some time. "Her imagery has been shared repeatedly in fat activist/body positive circles and pages and posted on my wall and private messaged to me over the past five years, as news of her existence was shocking and celebratory," she said. "Here was a curvy girl with a body that looked more like mine than many others I'd ever seen revered as something sexy enough to be on a flirty calendar."
"[Hilda] has been a positive breath of fresh air in the body shame and sex shame filled media we've been used to consuming for so long," the activist continued. "I've written before about my love of using self-portraits and social media as a radical tool in the feminist revolution over the years and I thought Hilda's imagery could use a little more feminism and body positivity. So using things I had around the house, my tripod, my iPhone timer, and a few supplies I purchased at the Dollar Tree down the street and the thrift shop, I embarked on a little fun summer project recreating some of her most iconic retro style images in 2017."
Amy has been a fat feminist and body image activist for the past 11 years in rural conservative America. She began using social media as a grassroots tool in the body-positive revolution early on. "People can be so mean and nasty in the comments when they think they're hidden behind screens. I found this out tenfold when a social activism performance art piece I did in a black bikini and a blindfold in the name of self-love went super viral in 2015 (like to the tune of 200 million views to date of the cumulative video iterations) and people had a lot to say about my fat body.
"That being said, she said more people have positive things to say about her vulnerability, humanity, power, and radical acceptance. Amy believes that seeing her body has helped them to see their own - and others - with more kindness. "My honesty helped them to examine their own and how they want to raise their children. Seeing me embrace my power and sexuality has softened their hearts to body diversity and cultural biases."
"Hilda is so goofy and flirty and making her my own at nearly twice her age, and adding photographs of my own real body along with quirky little objects from my home that represent my life as a woman and a mother, has really touched people in a surprising way. Sexiness can be silly while subverting the gaze and critically examining pin-ups can also be radical. And we can have fun doing it all at the same time."
it's a pity she is playing the toothed side of the saw, not the smooth side!
I love you! I love Hilda! I want to be your photographer for the next shoot!
Dude she's just adorable. I loved the whole set up. Thanks for making my day.
I love how she was able to capture the beauty of the pictures. Being a bigger girl is seen as bad, but loving yourself is more important. I'm a bigger girl, and I have no self-esteem whatsoever. Yes I work out and Eat better but it doesn't always work (I workout in a gym 5 days a week). Bigger girls are still gorgeous!
Loved it - very entertaining! I love all the details such as the stuffed animals. She's really beautiful! I wish I felt as comfortable as she is with no clothes on.
Original is great, but quality of photos should be better. There is no attention to right lightning or to the background. It looks like someone just grabed any camera and snapped. I would like more professional photos and it would be awesome! Of course, needless to say, I approve there is no photoshop involved.
I enjoyed the pictures! A professional photoshoot would've been nice. Some of the facial expressions are completely different as well.
An unpopular opinion - absolutely no one is allowed to body shame any overweight person but we have to stop saying being overweight is ok, because its most definitely not. It is a major health issue that in extreme cases may lead to death. For any overweight person i say that you are absolutely beautiful but please try to loose some weight so you would have better health and increase the quality of your life.
Valiant effort, but Amy hasn't caught the innocence of Hilda in her facial expressions, and in some it looks as she isn't even trying to. It's Hilda's expression, not her body, which conveys the most endearing quality of these images. Amy looks too worldly, if not world-weary, in her recreations, and sadly misses the mark. Hopefully, others will attempt the same, and someone will actually capture the true essence of why Hilda has stuck with us to this day and still resonates.
As someone who has struggled with my weight all my life (teenage hormones then pregnancy hormones then my thyroid messes up and on medication that makes me heavy) I appreciate this. There is more than just "I wanna eat non stop" that makes a person heavy. I have a difficult time looking at myself and seeing people comfortable with being larger helps me feel less insecure. People just assume fat people eat to get that way. Poor people eat a lot of processed food because its cheaper (real cheese $7 cheese slices $3 for same weight) health problems hormone problems. Don't assume they're "fat" because they like a gallon of ice cream a day.
I wish I could love my body with the love you show in these pictures. Truly beautiful,
How have I never seen or even heard of Hilda before? She's great! The artist put a lot of care and affection in his work.
I did a photoshoot based on these a few years ago. So much fun! hilda-side...2-jpeg.jpg
Absolutely gorgeous! Both of them are so pretty, and I wish I looked like them!
Wife and I love the way people come up with the funny things we do every day and share them with us so we can laugh at ourselves Hope you post more Love to see your photos we have lots LOL Picture111...e6d91a.jpg
long story short im gay now for a drawing from 50 years ago...
I love this. Nobody has a perfect body and I think everyone should think more about body positivity and absolutely nothing about body shaming.
It was well done and she has the most gorgeous laugh, but the expressions aren't quite right on most of them (not hating, just stating an opinion)
My grandma had red hair and was named Hilda.. Coincidence? I tHiNk NoT!
Much as I like old pin ups, I'm not sure I see the point in "reproducing" them?
It's rather refreshing to find there was an artist who appreciated the beauty of curvier girls in the 50's! I loved the drawings and the photos! There needs to be s resurgence of celebrating the curvier female form! We want more HILDA!!
Dude she's just adorable. I loved the whole set up. Thanks for making my day.
I love how she was able to capture the beauty of the pictures. Being a bigger girl is seen as bad, but loving yourself is more important. I'm a bigger girl, and I have no self-esteem whatsoever. Yes I work out and Eat better but it doesn't always work (I workout in a gym 5 days a week). Bigger girls are still gorgeous!
Loved it - very entertaining! I love all the details such as the stuffed animals. She's really beautiful! I wish I felt as comfortable as she is with no clothes on.
Original is great, but quality of photos should be better. There is no attention to right lightning or to the background. It looks like someone just grabed any camera and snapped. I would like more professional photos and it would be awesome! Of course, needless to say, I approve there is no photoshop involved.
I enjoyed the pictures! A professional photoshoot would've been nice. Some of the facial expressions are completely different as well.
An unpopular opinion - absolutely no one is allowed to body shame any overweight person but we have to stop saying being overweight is ok, because its most definitely not. It is a major health issue that in extreme cases may lead to death. For any overweight person i say that you are absolutely beautiful but please try to loose some weight so you would have better health and increase the quality of your life.
Valiant effort, but Amy hasn't caught the innocence of Hilda in her facial expressions, and in some it looks as she isn't even trying to. It's Hilda's expression, not her body, which conveys the most endearing quality of these images. Amy looks too worldly, if not world-weary, in her recreations, and sadly misses the mark. Hopefully, others will attempt the same, and someone will actually capture the true essence of why Hilda has stuck with us to this day and still resonates.
As someone who has struggled with my weight all my life (teenage hormones then pregnancy hormones then my thyroid messes up and on medication that makes me heavy) I appreciate this. There is more than just "I wanna eat non stop" that makes a person heavy. I have a difficult time looking at myself and seeing people comfortable with being larger helps me feel less insecure. People just assume fat people eat to get that way. Poor people eat a lot of processed food because its cheaper (real cheese $7 cheese slices $3 for same weight) health problems hormone problems. Don't assume they're "fat" because they like a gallon of ice cream a day.
I wish I could love my body with the love you show in these pictures. Truly beautiful,
How have I never seen or even heard of Hilda before? She's great! The artist put a lot of care and affection in his work.
I did a photoshoot based on these a few years ago. So much fun! hilda-side...2-jpeg.jpg
Absolutely gorgeous! Both of them are so pretty, and I wish I looked like them!
Wife and I love the way people come up with the funny things we do every day and share them with us so we can laugh at ourselves Hope you post more Love to see your photos we have lots LOL Picture111...e6d91a.jpg
long story short im gay now for a drawing from 50 years ago...
I love this. Nobody has a perfect body and I think everyone should think more about body positivity and absolutely nothing about body shaming.
It was well done and she has the most gorgeous laugh, but the expressions aren't quite right on most of them (not hating, just stating an opinion)
My grandma had red hair and was named Hilda.. Coincidence? I tHiNk NoT!
Much as I like old pin ups, I'm not sure I see the point in "reproducing" them?
It's rather refreshing to find there was an artist who appreciated the beauty of curvier girls in the 50's! I loved the drawings and the photos! There needs to be s resurgence of celebrating the curvier female form! We want more HILDA!!