#480 - Black Garter Synmag Laura Vickers

Black Garter, Exclusive Issue
Synmag Publishing Co.,
New York City
c. 1964

digital replica

Laura Vickers
Dawson Publishing Co.
New York City
c. 1964

Black Garter, Exclusive Issue
Synmag didn't date or assign volume numbers to issues of its magazines. Instead, each was given a name. What makes this issue of Black Garter exclusive and another one suave isn't clear. Retrospectively, the Exclusive Issue collects pictures of some of the best known pinup models of the 1960s, from New York and the UK.

In the Exclusive Issue of Black Garter, about half the pictures show models wearing hosiery (seamless, and full-fashioned). Waist cinchers and garter belts grip them on firm thighs but no picture shows a garter of any color. Leggy ladies include Jennifer Jordon (not Jennifer Jordan/Jutka Goz), Lorraine Burnette, Ann Austin, Laura Vickers, Debby Lane and Anita Ventura. Many wear gloves. Madeline Castle shows up in toreador pants but ends her set wearing little more than a grin.

The pages reflect interest in modern graphics of the 1960s, with lack of symmetry, superfluous lines, borders and bars, and many regions of black. Isolated instructions and arrows instruct the reader to turn the page.

Text adjacent to photographs rambles about models, their attitudes, moments during the photo shoot and refers to costumes, lighting, and cameras. One page defines a list of hipster slang. It's clear the editor and his collaborators had fun assembling this unpretentious volume.

The nearly full-size digital replica duplicates the page sequence of the original. While some page layouts were revised to present pictures without reduction in size, the ambitious graphic style is obvious in the ebook.

The centerfold in the original requires the reader to rotate the magazine. Those pages have been rotated 90° on ebook pages.

The magazine draws its audience into the circle of those who produced it by acknowledging the overwhelming appeal of pretty women and the vulnerability it exposes in men. A breezy stroll through the sexy side of Coolsville, we drool over classy stacks and slick chicks relaxing in their pads. Go, man, go.

Laura Vickers
Most often remembered for its Black Nylons and High Heels series, Dawson Publishing also offered booklets that focused on a single model. With better-than-competent photography and conscientious production, Laura Vickers was carefully assembled on 36 clay-coated pages.

Miss Laura appears in and out of bra, stockings, waist-cincher, garter belt, high heels, long gloves and shiny robe. The digital replica presents 30+ full-page photos in the original sequence. Image editing yields good skin tones and sharp detail.

With every feature a cheerful woman might need to achieve success as a model, Laura Vickers expertly shows off fine personal assets. Shapely plus, this professional blond looks straight through the lens to hearts of admirers. Her directness expresses awareness that men like to ogle her womanly charms.

Two ebooks. delivered by download from your 30th Street Graphics account.