Betty Boop
If there's one lady who can carry off the LBD, then it's cartoon legend Betty Boop. Her effortless style, charm and beauty have made Betty a firm screen legend for the past 70 years.
She was described as having overt sexual appeal when she first hit screens, which resulted in the cartoon being toned down in the 1930s. Despite this, she remains very popular today, and by today's standards she's definitely not overtly sexual in the least!
Betty Boob was created as an animated cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop films, which were made by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. She was the first animated sex symbol to really take the world by storm, and became a symbol for the depression era- representing the days gone by of the Jazz Babies.
Most unusually for a cartoon back then, her popularity derived from adult audiences and she is the first character in animation history, to fully represent a sexual woman. Minnie Mouse, for example who is a style icon in her own way, constantly showed her bloomers, but this was considered to be in a more playful, fun way.
Betty on the other hand frequently wore short dresses, high heels and a garter belt and was an object of affection for most men at the time. Despite this, she was always considered to be a girl's girl and this was reflected in the way she was drawn- for example her head is bigger than her body, which looks almost childlike.
Her short funky style and big eyes, painted with large lashes gave her a look of wonderment each time she was on screen, and her flapper style is still being replicated today.
The content of Betty Boop was often considered to be too heavy on sexual innuendo and towards the end of 1933, animators were forced to tone down the original character. From mid 1934, Betty was reinvented as a housewife wearing a full dress or skirt and so the legend died.
However, her appearance on 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' in 1988, in her original black and white form showed Betty back to her sexy best, wearing her trademark black dress, high-heels and garter. Oh Betty how we've missed you!