My name is Miss Pixie and here is my story!

Picture this, an Australian child at the age of seven, impressionable age was visiting the bright
lights of Las Vegas in the mid 1970’s with her parents when she saw her
father tip the door man at the showroom in the famous Hilton Hotel. He opened
the door and lead us past many tables  & finally we were seated at the front
table right next to the stage for the big show. Now I know you are all asking
yourself why I am telling you this story…let me continue! The live band starts
to play, the lights are circling the stage, the curtain goes up & the crowd
roars….Introducing, the King ELVIS PRESLEY!
Now this is actually a true story, although I was very young at the time
seeing this angelic man on stage obviously touched my very soul and so my love
for a man, an era of beauty began!

From the age of 4 I found a great love in dance. This was something that became a very large part
of my life studying classical ballet, tap and Jazz and later ballroom and latin
American of which I am a qualified instructor. Choroegraphy from a young age
was my forte….my true love. My passion lies with the partner dance styles of
the 1940’s and 50s which of course covers Rockabilly, Lindy Hop, Swing and
Rock’n’roll. I have taught in many primary schools, high schools, evening
colleges and venues including 3 years at the Sydney Dance Company.I have
written the Australian recognized syllabus for Rockabilly and have been an
adjudicator in many competitions around Australia as well as an examiner of
Teachers.

I never felt as if I fit in with the world around me – I always knew that I was different and
so, much to my parent disgust, I started to break out of what was considered
the norm. This lead me toteach myself how to sew. I spent many years sewing
outfits ranging from casual wear, stage costumes, evening wear and wven wedding
dresses both for myself and others.

It wasn’t until I was 15, when a friend introduced me to the thriving rockabilly scene of the early 
1980’s in Sydney that I knew I had finally found my place in the world. I instantly fell in love with
the clothing, the presentation of the women from the tip of their flowered
fascinator right down to their seamed
stockings, the music that just makes you want to get up and dance and
more than anything the lifestyle and culture. From that moment on my whole life
changed as I began to eat, breathe and live rockabilly 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year

Of course  a part of being a young rockabilly lady was
having the whole ‘look’, and being able to have a 50’s hairstyle to match your
outfit was essential. Feeling unconfident at the time in that area, and
desperate for a hair do that was as perfect as the vintage ball gown I had
purchased for the Christmas rockabilly ball that year, I decided to go to the
hairdressers. I brought in a photo of Marilyn and the hairdresser agreed that
she would set my hair. After 4 long hours I walked out of the salon in tears,
tearing my hair out – horrified at the mess that she had made. From that moment
on I knew that if I wanted that perfect style I would have to do it myself, and
the only way to do that was to go back to the era itself and learn from the
creators. And after many hours rifling through old news reels and vintage
hairdressing books at the state library because there was no internet in the
1980’s I slowly mastered the ‘art’ of 50’s hairstyling – and believe me, the
learning never ends!

I was lucky enough to receive alot of interest
from the media & appeared in many different programmes & magazines such
as "Simon Townsend's Wonder World" , "Level 23" &
"A Current Affair" to name but a few as well as magazines such as
"Dolly" & "Mode".

Though as the 80’s started to come to an end so did the rockabilly scene, and it pained me to
watch all my friends ‘grow up’ and move on because I knew that I could never
let go. I knew that I would never belong anywhere again, and I couldn’t bear to
trade in my full skirt and victory rolls for a suit and a pony tail. And I
never did.

I have noticed at around every 5 years there seems to be a surge in the rockabilly/ 50’s glamour
possibly due to main stream fashion bringing it all back ! It was about 7 years
ago, when I noticed a massive revival of the era coming on, even larger than
normal so I finally decided to share all my knowledge with others that loved it
as much as me. And that’s how Boogie Bop Dames and later Miss Pinup Australia
came to form.

My business Boogie Bop Dames is all about reviving and cherishing the beauty and glamour of
the 1940’s and 50’s and teaching women how to feel beautiful again. There is so
much pressure put on women in this day and age and in the stress of their everyday
lives they often forget how to be a ‘woman’.
Through our workshops in vintage hair, makeup and deportment, Boogie Bop
Dames is re teaching women how to feel classy and elegant again! Our fully themed
vintage pinup photography sessions aim to do much of the same thing – making
sure that every woman that walks out of our door feels sexier, more feminine
and a stronger woman because of it. The photos are a constant reminder of how
beautiful they really are! I have written articles on 1950’s glamour for
newspapers and national magazines as well as a bi monthly article in Pin Up
America Magazine. Every women has an inner pinup gal fighting to get out &
we are here to encourage that! The photography part of the business has become
very wide spread with my photos being published in newspapers and magazines
including overseas. I photograph for clothing labels and websites and most
 photographed the face of the NSW government campaign “Don’t DIS my
ABILITY” a campaign making the general public aware that people with
disabilities are beautiful!

With so much popularity and interest in my services I started to think – all the pinup
competitions of our time seem restrictive to a certain type of girl, but every
girl wants to feel beautiful, so why not change the focus of what these
competitions seem to be about? And that’s how I came to create Miss Pinup
Australia. The first Australian nationwide ‘vintage’ pinup competition since
the 1950’s that celebrates woman of all sizes and ages! With 4 categories –
Miss Perfect (for any gal), Miss Vavavoom (for curvy girls over a size 14, just
like Marilyn!), Miss Illustrated (for the women with body art), and Miss
Classic (for women over the age of 30), Miss Prestige (for women over 40) a
nd Miss Neo ( for the modern pinup)
– Miss Pinup Australia caters to all woman,
real women with a love and passion for true vintage glamour!

Modern society has changed alot since the 1950’s as has the female body shape. The modern
average dress size is equivalent to an Australian  14-16.

Miss Pinup Australia is a celebration of not only vintage glamour but of the 21st century
women so it makes sense to include all women, real women. So here we have the
only competiiton worldwide that celebrates diversity. Society views the 18 year
old size 8 gal as the perfect women, i disagree. With 4 different categories
for our Australian pinup gals to strut their stuff in we get to feature the
best of what Australia has to offer!