Sexy surprises:Military wives and girlfriends become pampered pinups for their men serving overseas

Taryn Burnett closes her eyelids slightly, lifts her chin and presses her light pink lips into a kiss.

The 20-year-old from Pagosa Springs entered the Colorado Springs photo studio in jeans and boots, her brunette hair falling in messy waves. Moments later, with her hair in hot rollers and her doe eyes framed with black glue-on lashes, she’s a star. A flawlessly made-up pinup star. A flawlessly made-up pinup star.

Burnett posed for vintagestyle pinup calendar shots as a Christmas gift to send to her fiance, Raul Palmer, who’s stationed in Iraq. Burnett is the market local photographer Adrienne Cragnotti, a former Playboy stylist and set designer, is going for — military wives and girlfriends looking for a unique care package.

“They miss them so much,” says Cragnotti, coowner of Pink Kitty Studios. “Can you imagine staying away for 15 months?”

Burnett and her friend, 18-year-old Alicia Joice, flip through a booklet of halfdressed women, scanning for looks to imitate. They debate what to show: some bum, bare bum, no bum, some breast, no breast?

They go for discreet poses, suspecting their men will pass around the photos (Cragnotti confirms this is usually the case).

The women settle on Cragnotti’s most popular look — the pinup style from the ’40s and ’50s (think Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable) — that captures women doing everyday activities in revealing clothing.

They’re scooted to the back bedroom to debate wardrobe decisions for three scenes they’ll each pose in — a bedroom, the kitchen and a studio backdrop. In the kitchen (where they’ll be “baking” cupcakes and romping in flour and frosting), the girls decide to wear frilly red panties and an apron.

Cragnotti gathers a couple of aprons and a set of red satin sheets and hurries off to prep while the girls primp. She rips open a box of cake mix and pours the powder into a yellow mixing bowl.

The studio looks like a home. Or maybe the home looks like a studio. White linen covers the bed on the floor of Cragnotti’s bedroom; small glass vases of roses and candles sprinkle the bedstand. In the kitchen, sunlight filters through red and white checkered curtains illuminating relics of the ’50s — brightly colored bowls, a chrome toaster and hand mixer.

Though most of the photos are taken inside, a few clients request outdoor shots — like a scene playing in the suds while soaping a car. This is when the neighbors start to ask questions.

“I don’t know what they actually think,” Cragnotti laughs.

Cragnotti and her business partner, Lori Mann, started Pink Kitty in 2002 in California, and since expanded to Colorado Springs in March and Philadelphia in August. About half of Cragnotti’s local clients are military wives. And the occasional woman whose amateur photographer husband has attempted racy pictures that ended in disaster, Cragnotti laughs.

Burnett struts out of the dressing room in a black and pink teddy, loose curls bouncing down her back. Joice climbs into the high-rise director’s chair, and sits calmly while Lauren Rennells, a Denver-based makeup artist, smooths her skin with a brush of foundation.

Or rather, Joice tries to sit calmly. Her French manicured nails occasionally tap her thighs, and her lips slide into a slight frown. Unlike her friend, who’s past the awkward stage and is comfortably flirting with the camera, Joice is a little nervous.

“Can you tell?” Joice asks, a smile breaking across her face.

“Almost everybody starts out uncomfortable, so we do a few extras on the first set,” Cragnotti says.

Joice’s husband, Elijah, has seen her nice side — she hooked up a webcam so he can see their 7-month-old daughter and has shipped him pillowcases laced with her scent.

Now it’s time for naughty.

“He has an idea that I was thinking about it,” she says of the photos. “I wish I could just see their expression when they see them.”

Joice and Burnett met through their guys, who were stationed together in Fairbanks, Alaska, and deployed in July to Iraq for a 15-month tour. Though the girls now live in different states — Burnett returned to Colorado and Joice moved to Muskogee, Okla. — they call one another every day. Sometimes more.

“I don’t know how I could do it without her,” Burnett says. “I really don’t.”

With a comb and can of hairspray tucked in her back pockets, Rennells darts onto the set to flip a curl and wipe off wandering lipstick. Joice and Burnett stand back-to-back on a red backdrop, holding hands. They’re dressed in near-matching camo tops, with black boy short panties — their sexy salute to the troops.

Cragnotti gives a few directions and the girls shuffle. The camera clicks and strobe lights flare.

Cragnotti flips her camera forward and studies the image.

“I’m going to die of cuteness,” she giggles. “That’s my favorite phrase today.”

Hundreds of images are downloaded onto Cragnotti’s computer throughout the day. She scans through the duds — ones with eyes closed, weird expressions, awkward positions — and pulls out a set for the women to examine. They’ll each choose their favorite dozen, which will be cleaned up and printed in a calendar.

Even Burnett and Joice, with their youthful figures and beautiful skin, will be photoshopped.

“I photoshop just about everything because the lighting is not always super perfect,” Cragnotti says. “Some girls are way pickier than other girls.”

With a few mouse clicks, cellulite is erased, harsh wrinkles are removed, and the chub spilling over the top of the G-string (your classic muffin top) is sucked in. The computer magic is part of every package, which cost $395 to $1,295.

In the end, the women look like themselves — just flawless, poreless, slightly tanner selves.

The six-hour shoot ends with Burnett and Joice back in street clothes, their faces primed for stage lights and their hair coated with flour (the kitchen scene can get a bit out of control). Joice rushes off to take a phone call from her husband as Burnett munches on veggies in the kitchen.

She’s tired, her face is caked with makeup and she’s still slightly embarrassed. Such is the life of a pinup star.

“He’s going to be very shocked,” she says. “I know he’ll be tickled to death about it.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0152 or melissa.cassutt@gazette.com

NAUGHTY, BUT VERY NICE

When Amanda Olivas’ new husband, Jeff, was deployed to Iraq the day after their wedding, she wanted to send him something that would keep her on his mind.

So, she had some nudie photos taken. Modest nudie photos.

“I guess you’d say I’m shy as far as taking pictures like that,” laughs Olivas. “So it was easier for me to go and do a retro picture where I could look cutesy rather than this goddess thing that I could never pull off in a million years.”

Olivas, who lives in San Clemente, Calif., posed for retro ‘50s pictures at Pink Kitty Studios about three years ago for a 12-month calendar to send to her husband as a way to count down the days.

“I was blown away when I got the calendar,” says Jeff Olivas, a sergeant in the Army Reserve. “My dad, he fought in WWII so it was kind of cool to get what he had back then.”

The couple said vintage pinup style is a prude-sexy mix, the perfect balance of showing enough skin and keeping enough hidden.

“Honestly, it’s classic. It’s not like the pinups nowadays where the girls are kind of dirty,” he said. “It’s more like timeless classic beauty. It doesn’t seem over-processed. It’s like they’re being sexy without trying to be sexy.”