Cynthia Léonard, aka Jacquie Lynn, has just added a sash to her list of achievements, and not just any sash. During the Miss Pin-up Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional competition on June 8, 2024 in Dordogne, she became second runner-up, which opens the doors to the national competition that will take place in Auvergne in October 2024. A title that she won after a twist, since on the evening of the competition, she had first won the jury’s favorite, tied with another candidate.
Original outfits and well-chosen accessories
“The emotions have been a bit of a roller coaster, she smiled. The one who won the Miss title resigned, for health reasons, a few days later. The jury decided to move each runner-up up a notch, and I was chosen to become second runner-up: the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional committee wanted to highlight the originality of my outfits. Cynthia Leonard had indeed competed with, in daytime outfit, a waitress outfit and authentic 1956 roller skates; for the show, a Morticia Addams outfit, “a dark pin-up, certainly, but with the ultra-plunging neckline, the tight waist, the hips that stand out…” ; and in evening wear, a long, all-silver, sequined dress from the late 1930s.
I really want to measure myself against the other pin-ups, they are the cream of the crop!
Cynthia Leonard
“I always try to stand out and break the clichés, she insists. My secret is to accessorize well, with real elements that give character to the outfits, by associating them with the right hairstyle and the right makeup.
Cynthia Léonard pays attention to every detail, benefiting from the help of her family: her grandmother for the sewing necessary for certain modifications to the waitress’ outfit, her grandfather to give the roller skates a new lease of life, her mother-in-law who gave her the gloves from her evening outfit… and always a thought for her great-grandmother whose first name, Jacqueline, inspired her pin-up name.
Present at local events
Cynthia Léonard was participating in the regional competition for the third and final time (limit imposed by the rules), after the 2017 and 2020 editions. This regional sash is particularly valuable because after ten years in the pin-up world, the Poitevine wanted to turn the page. The experience of the national competition would therefore be the culmination of her immersion in this period, from the end of the 1930s to the beginning of the 1960s, marked by these images of sensual young women. As second runner-up, she participated in various events in the region, such as the Bouchon des bielles vintage car gathering in Chaunay on June 16, or the pin-up competition in La Villedieu-du-Clain on June 29.
It has already started to plan to meet the high demands of the national level: “I won’t have a show to prepare, but we need a day outfit, an evening outfit and an outfit to represent the region: why not a traditional outfit… We also need outfits for different photo shoots, and we’ll have a choreography to rehearse. I really want to measure myself against the other pin-ups, they’re the cream of the crop!”
