Jayne Mansfield's leopard spot bikini was regular wardrobe for actress and blonde bombshell
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...
in her publicity stunts. Because of the costume she came to be known as "the girl in the leopard bikini" at times. Throughout the 1950s, she and her husband
Mickey Hargitay
Mickey Hargitay (January 6, 1926 – September 14, 2006), born Miklós Karoly Hargitay, was a Hungarian-American actor and the 1955 Mr. Universe.
Born in Budapest, Hargitay moved to the United States in 1947 and eventually became a U.S. citi ...
posed for photos with her in the leopard spot bikini. The couple wore matching leopard spots to announce their closeness, and the costume won them a prize at a Hollywood costume party. Mansfield often walked down the
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
in the leopard bikini signing autographs, once went shopping in the leopard bikini, and attended parties in it.
When Mansfield and her husband Miklós Hargitay toured for stage shows, newspapers wrote that Mansfield convinced the rural population that she owned more bikinis than anyone. She showed a fair amount of her bust, as well as her midriff and legs, in the leopard-spot bikini she wore for her stage shows. Kathryn Wexler of ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.leopard-skin bikini remains one of the earlier specimens of the fashion. As late as in 1982, she appeared in a full page color photograph in the leopard spot bikini in Tony Crawley's ''Screen Dreams: The Hollywood Pin-up''. ''American Photo'' magazine printed photographer Bruno Bernard's photo of Mansfield in the costume in 2003.Inside Photography , ''American Photo'', page 13, Jan-Feb 2003