Frances Vorne

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Frances Vorne (May 30, 1920 – August 8, 1990) was an American model and famous WWII pin-up known as “the Shape.” She grew up in New York and spoke Russian and Ukrainian. Friends described her as simple and modest, with a striking figure, who didn’t drink, go to night clubs, or stay out late.

Vorne’s rise came from a 1944 photo in which she wore a bathing suit made from a German parachute. The image was widely published in Army materials and posted in hundreds of thousands of places for soldiers. It became incredibly popular and helped make Vorne one of the era’s best-known pin-ups. Some reports even said pilots planned to drop her photo behind enemy lines to boost morale. The photo also reached audiences in London and Britain’s Ministry of Information to inspire troops.

In January 1945, Time magazine said she might be the year’s top pin-up. She later performed in the 1945 Water Follies in a “glass” bathing suit, and in 1946 appeared in a mail-order newsreel called Swim Suit Revue, featuring both her parachute bathing suit and a diaper-style suit. Vorne died in 1990 at age 70.