The second quarter of 2003 saw SG really emitting showers of sparks.
For three days in a row, superb sets graced the website:
Gauntlet by @lotus
Ahoy by @sadie
and
Fall Asleep by @bettie
There was lots of red hair and black brassieres on Suicide Girls in April of 2003 (and I’m a fan of both).
Lotus’s Gauntlet has both. And what a lovely, lovely set it is!
Sadie is another high-quality model and her set check’s the red box with a fire-engine look that’s volcanic.
Bettie has a black bra and one particularly-stellar boob close-up.
These three sets really set the tone for the second quarter of 2003.
SG was consistently attracting (more and more) HOT models—girls who could have easily been in less-cool publications like Penthouse and Hustler.
From a business standpoint, SG was doing something right.
It was attracting the talent.
It was COOL to be an SG model.
Whether for the money or for the social caché.
April kept rolling with a fabulous set called The Revelators by @aiki .
It is such an angular, beautiful work of art featuring a top-tier model.
Soon, creativity would come to the fore in @linz ‘s iconoclastic set Colors .
I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in the aforementioned collection, but it’s damned interesting!
Like a human version of the Kryptos statue from CIA headquarters.
Speaking of interesting, check out Self Titled by @cherry to see her drool a creamy beverage.
Definitely an innovation of which I heartily approve!
Also fascinating is her strawberries-and-cream “sushi” arrangement stretching the length of her abdomen.
Super-cool!!
Another niche box is checked in the next day’s set: Burn by @sabine .
If you are into hot candle wax on tits, you must see this.
N.B. The purple candle wax was an excellent color choice.
The black bra returns for @jameson ‘s gothy Riot Grrlz .
What an über-babe!
In early-middle 2003, good things on SG came in threes.
We had already seen a solid three-day trifecta in April, but another was forthcoming in May.
This time, it was three very strong multis in a row.
First was @isobel and @kiscica with Mutual .
This one almost hints at Yves Klein.
Indeed, blue paint on pink skin is a delicious look.
Next was @katie and @marie with Squat .
The ass grab in this one is pretty epic!
This troika of duos was artfully finished off by the sensual Wake featuring @faith and @london .
This divine and delicate shoot could have almost been the work of Maya Deren…such is its meshed embrace of arabesque.
But the model which really stole my heart for the second quarter of 2003 was @nadine in her bodacious, bra-busting collection Pink Skull .
To my eyes, Nadine was the most significant model of this three month period.
Partner of the quarter (as it were).
In case your niche has yet to be scratched today, try out the playful Peewee by @alexis .
Nothing like a Pee-Wee Herman doll wedged in a model’s coochie region while miniature Paul Rubens gazes up goofily into the eyes of his admirer.
I, for one, dig it!
Perhaps the most unique set of this era.
But I just as much appreciate the classy, classic @rose in her set Heavens Angels (shot by the wonderful @missy ).
This set is bold and artful.
Model and photographer were on the same wavelength.
Which brings us to a pausing question:
why do SG models do it?
What motivates them?
The next set hypothesizes one possibility—namely Will Strip by @bryn .
In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Playboy had some special spreads.
Artful shoots.
Hell, even the advertisements were strangely-artful.
But Playboy lost that magic in the 1980s.
And they’ve never really regained it.
There was a “girl next door” vibe to some of the early eras of Playboy, but that gave way to unattainable, impossibility-perfect (airbrushed) models.
Suicide Girls is the antithesis of that.
And yet, SG can also beat Playboy at its own game.
You want boobs?
We got boobs.
As for ink, forget about it.
Everybody knows SG has the best tats.
But let’s ask the question again: why do it?
Why go to all the trouble (and expense) of undertaking a pin-up shoot?
There’s nothing artful about Penthouse and Hustler.
Playboy’s days of subtlety and true beauty are long gone.
Why choose SG?
To my mind, Suicide Girls is a family.
A sorority.
A hard club to get into.
Full of amazing diversity.
Big tits.
Small tits.
Lucious asses.
Skinny goddesses.
And a shit-ton of PERSONALITY.
Which brings us to the most artful set of early-mid 2003: Widow by @portia .
The conception of this set is BRILLIANT.
And it was captured perfectly by @erin .
I hate to get all League-of-Their-Own here, but many of these sets were (and are) shot by models.
Model-photographers.
Photographer-models.
These all-around bad bitches DID IT ALL.
Hell, another part of it is RECRUITING THE TALENT.
I notice @mitten having done this in the San Francisco area.
Once your job title has a couple of commas in it, you are WORKING.
But back to that question: why do it?
If I might propose a humble reply:
because you just might be remembered as an artist.
That’s right.
Posed in Penthouse?
Hustler?
1980-present Playboy?
Nobody cares.
But posed in ‘70s Playboy?
People care.
Nerds.
Connoisseurs.
And that is what posing in SG gives you as well.
When you are timeless, you are immortal.
When I look at these sets from the early years of Suicide Girls, I’m not thinking, “Yeah, but what do they look like now?”
I don’t give a fuck.
They looked AMAZING THEN.
And that “then” is forever.
As long as the internet stays switched on.
And so Portia and Erin can be damned proud of the set Widow.
Because it overwhelms the erotic senses.
It comes on like Klimt or Miró.
It is bold.
Audacious.
It is shooting for the stars.
Shooting for the history books.
Another bold, high-contrast set was soon to follow.
This one a bit more like Warhol.
Caution by @tekky is as classic as Max Headroom—as classic as the video for Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”.
Sexy stuff!
During this window, we were also graced with another set by the QUEEN of pin-up classicism: Vanity Mirror by @bettina .
Her rosy-pink nipples and milk-white skin make me wanna enlist in some army or something. Any army. Whatever side she’s on!
And her mischievous smile is a new twist.
A new aspect of being more comfortable in front of the camera (or perhaps with a particular photographer).
Let’s end this chapter off with a bit of lascivious fun: Pollipop by the adorable @polli .
What makes this set work is THE EYES.
The gaze.
You gaze at her.
And she gazes back at you.
But we must remember that the camera is also an eye.
Why is this set really noteworthy?
Because the photography is just as sexy as the model.
The camera peers down at innocent, helpless Polli.
Over and over again.
For many frames.
And then the tables turn.
Up through lush cleavage we gaze at Polli—and now she’s in charge (and she’s a larger-than-life goddess).
—Pauly Deathwish
