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Israel is not huge on Pinups and, to me, as an Israeli, it's a bit of a surprise.

A fact that is well known to Israelis, is that Israel has a long history of mimicking fashion and commercial trends. Hardly a leader in it's own cultural right, Israel used to mimic Europe in the 40's, 50's and 60's. But as the political and financial scales tipped in America's favor, American business models and fashion trends have become more and more popular in Israel. As fashion and pop culture are inextricably linked, one can understand what African American pop culture is doing in Israel and why women's role-models become Carrie Bradshaw.

So Why Aren't Pinups Having their big comeback in Israel?
The fifties are big right now, Garter belts and elaborate lingerie, vintage bell-cut dresses, thick belts and high heels. But in Israel the origins of cheesecake fashions have yet to hit home. Could this be due to the fact that Israel was into Europe during the 50's?

Israelis love the 50's fashion trends. A walk in the streets will have you confronting the flat pump in all shapes and sizes. I got theses two lovelies very cheep ($20)- that's how common they are:

Only two Pinup Campaigns in Israel
And yet, there are only two Israeli campaigns staring a pinup citation, in current existence. There us the Marko Shoes campaign. A lovely assortment of flat pumps with bows, polka dots and all the trimmings.

More prominently, we find Israeli leading manufacturer of dairy products, “Tnuva”, has partnered up with “Weight Watchers” and the both of these commercial giants are enticing their customers to use the new Weight Watcher's chart on all Tnuva products.

Hello Kitty and Pinup Culture
When traveling through Macao I found the fabulous trend of pimping your ride with Hello Kitty merchandise.My beloved spouse and I were trying to figure out why this adorable habit couldn't become a common sight in Israel and reached the following conclusions:

The grim realities of Israel make people take themselves too seriously. (not to mention angry, but that's for another blog entirely)
These grim realities are a result of a military state, which leads to military mind-sets, in other words machoism. A man wouldn't be caught dead flashing his hello kitty doll.

What does Hello Kitty have to do with pinups? Quite simply, they are both pop culture. A country with an uptight social and political climate (and citizens that buy into its hype), is not fertile ground for pop-art and aesthetics culture.

For a less uptight Israel,