Nude & Naked

Nude (pronounced nood or nyood)

(1) Naked or unclothed, as a person or the body.

(2) Without the usual coverings, furnishings etc; bare.

(3) In art, being or prominently displaying a representation of the nude human figure.

(4) In law, a contract made without a consideration or other legal essential and therefore invalid (nudum pactum).

(5) In historic commercial use (usually for underwear), a light grayish-yellow brown to brownish-pink color (no longer in common use; now considered offensive because of the cultural implications of its association with white skin).

1531: As an artistic euphemism for naked, use was first applied to sculpture first emerged in the 1610s but the term not common in painting until the mid-nineteenth century when the idea of "the nude" was recognized as a genre.  The origin of the use in painting in the sense of "the representation of the undraped human figure in visual art" is said to date from 1708 and be derived from the French nud, an obsolete variant of nu (naked, nude, bare) also from the Latin nūdus.  The phrase idea of being in the nude (in a condition of being unclothed) emerged in the 1850s in parallel with the use in art criticism.

The adjective nude in legal use dates from the 1530s and meant "unsupported, not formally attested", the use from the Latin nūdus (naked, bare, unclothed, stripped) from the primitive Indo-European root nogw- (naked).  In legal matters it was typically applied in contract law (hence the "nude contract") and, by extension, the general sense of "mere, plain, simple" emerged twenty years later.  is attested from 1550s. In reference to the human body, "unclothed, undraped," it is an artistic euphemism for naked, dating from 1610s (implied in nudity) but not in common use in this sense until mid-nineteenth century.  The noun nudie (a nude show) dates from 1935 while the much earlier noun nudification (making naked) was from 1838, presumably a direct borrowing of the French nudification which had been in use since 1833.  The practice of nudism actually has roots in Antiquity but nudist (as applied to both practitioners and practice) came into use only in 1929 as an adjective and noun, both influenced by the French nudiste.  The noun nudism (the cult and practice of going unclothed) also dates from 1929 and in the UK, however inaccurately, it was described as a cult of German origin which had been picked up also by the more bohemian of the French, the more respectable London press linking the practice with vegetarianism, physical exercise, pagan worship and the eating of seeds.  Nude, nudeness  & nudist are nouns & adjectives and nudity & nudism are nouns; the noun plural is nudes.

Naked (pronounced ney-kid (U) or neck-ed (non-U))

(1) Being without clothing or covering; nude.

(2) Without adequate clothing.

(3) A natural environment bare of any covering, overlying matter, vegetation, foliage, or the like.

(4) Bare, stripped, or destitute.

(5) A descriptor of the most basic version of something sometimes more elaborate or embellished.

(6) In optics, as applied to the eye, sight etc, unassisted by a microscope, telescope, or other instrument.

(7) Defenseless; unprotected; exposed.

(8) Not accompanied or supplemented by anything else.

(9) In botany, (of seeds) not enclosed in an ovary; (of flowers) without a calyx or perianth; (of branches etc) without leaves; (of stalks, leaves etc) without hairs or pubescence.

(10) In zoology, having no covering of hair, feathers, shell etc.

(11) In motorcycle design, a machine in which the frame and engine are substantially exposed by virtue of screens and fairings not being fitted.

Pre 900: From the Middle English nakede & naked (without the usual or customary covering" (of a sword etc)) from the Old English nacod (nude, bare, empty or not fully clothed); related to the Old High German nackot, the Old Norse noktr and Latin nudus; cognate with the Dutch naakt, the German nackt, the Gothic naqths; akin to the Old Norse nakinn, the Latin nūdus, the Greek gymnós and Sanskrit nagnás.  Source was the Proto-Germanic nakwathaz, also the root of the Old Frisian nakad, the Middle Dutch naket, the Old Norse nökkviðr, the Old Swedish nakuþer and the Gothic naqaþs and ultimate source the primitive European nogw (naked), related to the Sanskrit nagna, the Hittite nekumant, the Old Persian nagna, the Lithuanian nuogas, the Old Church Slavonic nagu, the Russian nagoi, the Old Irish nocht and the Welsh noeth.  As applied to qualities, actions, etc, use emerged in the early thirteenth century, the phrase “naked truth” first noted in 1585 in Alexander Montgomerie's (circa 1550-1598) The Cherry and the Slae.  The phrase “naked as a jaybird (1943) was earlier referenced as “naked as a robin” (1879); the earliest known comparative based on it was the fourteenth century “naked as a needle”.  “Naked eye” is from 1660s, the form unnecessary in the world before improvements in lens grinding technology led to the invention of telescopes and microscopes.  The adjective nakedly (without concealment, plainly, openly) was from circa 1200.  The noun nakedness was from the Old English nacedness (nudity, bareness).  Naked is a verb & adjective and nakedness & nakedhood are nouns.  The special use of naked as a noun applies to motorcycles in which case the noun plural is nakeds.

Naked motorcycles:  2010 Ducati 1098 Streetfighter (left) and 2015 MV Agusta Stradale (right).  Men can spend a long time admiring the intricacy of machines like these, the exposed pipework of exhaust systems exerting a particular fascination.

The concept of the naked motorcycle is a machine reduced to its essence of a frame, wheels and an engine, thereby making it lighter than more exotically configured models which may include flashings, windshields, saddlebags or fairings.  Simple physics mean a machine with less mass accelerates, turns and stops with less demand of energy and at low speed they tend to be easier to manoeuvre, are lighter to hold up when static and certainly easier to mount on a centre-stand.  There's also the attraction there are fewer things to break, fibreglass fairings being notorious for getting cracked, scratched or broken and Perspex screens are, with age, prone to cloudiness.  The look however is why some buy naked bikes, the intricacies of the exposed mechanicals appealing especially to engineers anxious to display the quality of the frame's welding or the indefinable but real attraction of Allen-headed bolts.  They're also quick.  Although sacrificing the aerodynamic advantages gained by fairings means in some cases the naked machines can have lower top speeds, they tend to accelerate with more alacrity, offer instant responsiveness and, in street use, top speeds are now anyway rarely approached. 

Nude or naked?

In many places the words may correctly be used interchangeably.  In law, a nude and a naked contract are the same, a pact which is unenforceable because if doesn’t possess all the elements required to be valid.  The legal maxim nuda pactio obligationem non parit signifies a naked promise which is a promise without anything being provided in return.  Nuda pactio obligationem non parit thus does not create a legal obligation.

The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956) by Kenneth Clark, Bollingen Series, Pantheon Books, New York, 1956.

Kenneth Clark (Lord Clark (1903-1983), a cultural elitist of a kind now perhaps either extinct or rendered silent by a less deferential culture, opened The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form by noting naked implied something embarrassing yet nude “…carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone.”  Clark certainly wrote for an “educated” audience and his view was there were works of art in which there were nudes but other depictions were just variations of nakedness for whatever purpose.  The nude, he concluded, “…is not the subject of art, but a form of art.”  In critical circles that's now mostly the accepted orthodoxy but since Antiquity not all elites (even the “educated” ones) have shared the view and it wasn't just medieval popes who sought to cover up the unclothed, sometimes with draping and sometimes fig leaves, all judiciously place.  Other have been more destructive, burning or reducing to rubble “that which should offend thine eye”. 

Highly qualified content provider Busty Buffy (b 1996) who appears sometimes “in the nude” although Lord Clark would have called that state of undress: “nakedness”.

In other words, the models in men's magazines were photographed naked while figures rendered in fine art were part of the tradition of the nude.  Photographers who thought their work artistic didn't agree and the onset of cultural relativism means such debates, whatever opinions may be held, are now rare.  However, the adoption by some that nude was something to used exclusively about works of art dates only from the eighteenth century, a movement led by critics and the commercial art industry which wanted the English market again to start buying the many nudes available for sale but which, even before the Victorian era, had fallen from fashion.

New York Magazine, February 2008 (Spring Fashion Issue).

Bert Stern’s (1929-2013) nude photo shoot of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) was commissioned by Vogue magazine and shot over three days, some six weeks before her death.  In book form, the images captured were compiled and published as The Last Sitting (first edition, William Morrow and Company (1982) ISBN 0-688-01173-X).  Stern reprised his work in 2008 with Lindsay Lohan, the photographs published in February 2008’s spring fashion issue of New York magazine.  Stern chose the medium of forty-six years earlier, committing the images to celluloid rather than using anything digital.  The reprised sessions visually echoed the original with a languorous air though the diaphanous fabrics were draped sometimes less artfully than all those years ago.  He later expressed ambivalence about the shoot, hinting regret at having imitated his own work but the photographs remain an exemplar of peak-Lohanary.

First published in 1968, New York magazine is now owned by Vox media and, unlike many, its print edition still appears on surviving news-stands.  The editorial focus has over the decades shifted, the most interesting trend-line being the extent to which it could be said to be very much a “New York-centred” publication, something which comes and goes but the most distinguishing characteristic has always been a willingness (often an eagerness) to descend into pop-culture in a way the New Yorker's editors would have distained; it was in a 1985 New York cover story the term “Brat Pack” first appeared.  Coined by journalist David Blum (b 1955) and about a number of successful early twenty-something film stars, the piece proved controversial because the subjects raised concerns about what they claimed was Blum’s unethical tactics in obtaining the material.  The term was a play on “Rat Pack” which in the 1950s had been used of an earlier group of entertainers although Blum also noted another journalist's coining of “Fat Pack”, used in restaurant-related stories.

Lindsay Lohan, Playboy magazine, January/February 2012.

Nudity & nakedness are defined by both context & circumstances.  The cover photograph for Lindsay Lohan's 2012 Playboy shoot was, in the narrow technical sense, ambiguous because the chair could have been concealing a pair of delicate lace knickers.  Importantly, even though there are stilettos on the feet, this is still a nude shot because, in this context, shoes don't count; everybody knows that.

Actually, in the context of nude shots it’s probably more correct to say stilettos can be part of the construct of "the nude", the shoes having a long history as an element in such photo sessions, the connotation well-understood.  For that reason, the motif was the one addition to a “nude pin-up calendar” published in 2010 by EIZO Corporation (株式会社, EIZO Kabushiki-gaisha), a Japanese visual technology company which began in 1968 as a television manufacturer.  The name EIZO is an unaltered use of the Japanese 映像 (eizō) (image).  As electronics became progressively cheaper and more powerful there was a proliferation in the use of screens for many purposes and EIZO responded by diversifying into products such as arcade game hardware, computer monitors, VCRs (video cassette recorders) and cassette players.  In 2002, a range of monitors for medical imaging was introduced and the novel calendar appeared to promote its radiological devices.

Eizo Pin-up calendar, 2010.

Advertising Agency: Butter, Berlin & Duesseldorf, Germany
Creative Director: Matthias Eickmeyer
Art Director: Nadine Schlichte
Illustrator/CGI: Carsten Mainz
Copywriter: Reinhard Henke

The theme of the calendar was a model scanned in twelve stereotypical “pin-up” poses, the young lady nude except for her stilettos with the images in the form of classic X-Ray film.  What that meant was the model was in a sense more naked than most nudes because all that was visible (except for the stilettos) was the skeleton and an adumbrated outline of the skin; like the more “artistic” pornography, much was achieved by having a viewer’s mind “fill in the gaps” as it were.  It attracted much interest but it soon was revealed no model was irradiated in the making of the calendar, the images all created with CGI (computer-generated imagery).  The concept came from Berlin-based creative agency Butter and in terms of brand-recognition was an outstanding success because before images of the calendar went viral, it’s doubtful many outside the Japanese electronics industry had heard of EIZO.

What a stiletto imposes on the wearer’s “metatarsophalangeal joint between the metatarsal and proximal phalangeal bones” attracted some comment.  It seems a small price to pay for the pleasure men gain from seeing a foot in these classic shoes.

Being the internet, the images were of course deconstructed even before Butter revealed the truth.  Those well acquainted with medical imaging pointed out it was obvious they were digital composites because some things appeared as “white” when they should have been “black”, Miss July’s nipples apparently an obvious clue to a trained eye while others pointed out a “conspicuous absence of bowel gas and pulmonary vascularity.”  To reassure the internet no model was required to be exposed to a high-dose of radiation, Butter published pictures of the physical wireframes constructed for the CGI modelling; while that proved she was all pixels and there was no exploitation, a feminist critique would still detect the gratuitous objectification of the female form.  Still, neither agency or client could resist the tagline: “The EIZO Medical pin-up calendar – just like EIZO monitors – really does show every detail.”

Nude bras by Flora & Fauna (left) and Capeizo (right).

The concept of the “nude bra” was one of the unanticipated consequences of the emergence of DEI (diversity, equality & inclusion) as part of the West’s linguistic and cultural framework.  The beige bra has long been an industry staple and although the products are sometimes described as a “boring beige bra”, their usual qualities (comfortable, supportive and unobtrusive) made them an “everyday essential”.  However, the functional, if unexciting, garments tended once to be marketed as “skin-tone” which obviously was intrinsically exclusionary because it implied skin was “beige” and thus one of the many examples of “white privilege”.  Accordingly, mostly the industry shifted to value-free descriptors such as beige, black, brown, green, grey, ivory, pink, purple, red, white etc.  The purpose of a nude bra is to be nearly imperceptible under clothing, achieved by the fabric as closely as possible matching the skin tone and the obvious implication is what is a nude bra for one might be quite the opposite for another.  Glamour has a a helpful on-line guide based on the idea of skin's undertones able to be classified as cool, warm, or neutral and notes that while in underwear "black" and "white" tend to be universal, colors like beige or brown are spectrums and there are variations, both between manufacturers and even within their ranges,  That's good because even within a construct like "black skin" or "white skin", there are variations so ideally the selection of a nude bra will involve a consumer comparing fabric with flesh.

Pantsuit

Pantsuit (pronounced pant-soot)

A woman's suit consisting of slacks and a matching jacket.

1966: The construct was pant + suit.  The original form “pants suit” was noted first in 1964, wholly supplanted by pantsuit which emerged within two years.  Pant is a shortened form of pants (trousers, drawers) itself a shortening of pantaloons, a usage from 1840 which was initially limited to vulgar and commercial use with the colloquial singular pant attested from 1893.  Suit is from the Middle English sute, from the Anglo-Norman suite and the Old French sieute & siute (in Modern French as suite), originally a participle adjective from the Vulgar Latin sequita (for secūta), from the Classical Latin sequi (to follow), in the sense the component garments "follow each other" (ie are worn together).  Although known also as the trouser suit or slack suit, it was only ever pantsuit which evolved into a single word although modern feminist thought seems to prefer the simple “suit” as applied to the men’s business staple.

Women in trousers: The subversive history

Lindsay Lohan in pink pantsuit with Valentino’s Rockstud pumps, New York, October 2019.

The style actually predates the word, the combination of trousers and a jacket having for centuries been worn for practical reasons by working-class and peasant women and it became a not uncommon sight after women entered the manufacturing workforce at scale during World War One.  However, among some, it seemed to induce conniptions when middle-class women began to adopt the combination as distinctive daywear in the inter-war years.  It wasn’t for lack of modesty but rather that trousers were seen as emblematic of female assertiveness that had already seen gains in political, legal and economic rights.  Apparently not at all threatening when worn in the field or on factory floors, they were clearly part of an ever-thickening wedge when they appeared in the office.

Marlene Dietrich, Paris, 1933.

First an identifiable item when the appeared in the United States during the 1920s, the pantsuit has at various times be spelled also as pant suit & pants suits; the preferred term in feminist circles seems now to be “suit”.  Outside the US, elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the term "trouser suit", dating from the First World War, operated in parallel during most of the twentieth century but has now faded from use as has the linguistically unhappy "slack suit" or the (probably worse) "slacks suit".  More deliberately androgynous than what would follow, Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) famously adopted men’s suits with dramatic effect and not without social effect.  After being photographed in 1933 aboard the SS Europa en route to France wearing a white suit, the Paris police sent a warning that she would be arrested if she wore menswear in the City of Lights. Dietrich ignored them and disembarked in a tweed suit complete with a tie, overcoat, beret and sunglasses.  The gendarmes did not arrest her.

YSL's Le Smoking tuxedo suit, 1966 (left), reprised by Abbey Lee Kershaw (b 1987) in 2014 (right).

It was probably Yves Saint Laurent's (1936-2008) Le Smoking design in 1966 which legitimized the presence of the pantsuit in catalogues and, increasingly, on the catwalk.  The 1966 piece was a revived tuxedo, tailored to the female form, in velvet or wool.  Other fabrics soon followed but unfortunately, not all modern interpretations are as pleasing because they’re the choice of many whose figures tend not to suit more flattering cuts and, being now positioned as a feminist symbol, the implication is any criticism of the style is, at least, a micro-aggression and even as long ago as the 1960s, women were pushing back; New York socialite Nan Kempner (1930–2005) was once denied entry to La Cote Basque restaurant because she was wearing pants so instantly she took them of and walked in, wearing just her tunic top.

Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011), fashion icon.

Forty-odd years on, in August 2008, crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) referred to her campaign staff as The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuits.  That didn't work out well but she persisted with the pantsuits to the point the garment was her one identifiable style and in an interview with CNBC she explained the choice:

(1) It was initially that she liked pantsuits, saying “They make me feel professional and ready to go.”

(2) A pantsuit is a kind of uniform which matches the default male suit & tie and men traditionally haven't attracted criticism for that.  She noted it was "an easy way to fit in" with what was a male-dominated business and that “as a woman running for President,” she liked the “visual cue” that she was “different from the men but also familiar.”

(3) The uniform was an "anti-distraction technique."  Removing much of the scope for those who traditionally focused on what women wore, it forced some attention on what she was saying.  Obviously, that could be sometimes be to her disadvantage.

(4) The cut of the pantsuit provides protection "from creeps."  "They helped me avoid the peril of being photographed up my skirt while sitting on a stage or climbing stairs, both of which happened to me as First Lady.”  She explained that after that happened, she took a cue from one of her childhood heroes, Nancy Drew, because she “would often do her detective work in sensible trousers.”

The pantsuit turned out to be a good platform for subliminal messaging, crooked Hillary successively wearing red, white and blue iterations for the three presidential debates in 2016, an option no male candidate could emulate without attracting derision.  Men can of course wear ties of different colors but it's hardly as obvious.  Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) would later suggest an orange pantsuit was best suited to crooked Hillary's skin tone and character.

Donald Trump shaking hands with crooked Hillary Clinton (in red pantsuit) and Kim Jong-un (in blue pantsuit).

Heckblende

Heckblende (pronounced hek-blend or hek-blend-ah (German)

A moulded piece of reflective plastic permanently mounted between a car’s taillight (also as tail light, tail-light, taillamp, tail lamp & tail lamp) assemblies and designed to make them appear a contiguous entity

1980s: A German compound noun, the construct being Heck (rear; back) + Blende (cover).  As a surname, Heck (most common in southern Germany and the Rhineland) came from the Middle High German hecke or hegge (hedge), the origin probably as a topographic name for someone who lived near a hedge.  The link with hedges as a means of dividing properties led in the Middle Low German to heck meaning “wooden fencing” under the influence of the Old Saxon hekki, from the Proto-West Germanic hakkju.  In nautical slang "heck" came to refer to the “back of a ship” because the position of the helmsman in the stern was enclosed by such a fence and from here it evolved in modern German generally to refer to "back or rear".  The Modern German Blende was from blenden (deceive), from the Middle High German blenden, from the Old High German blenten, from the Proto-Germanic blandijaną, from the primitive Indo-European blend- and was cognate with the Dutch blenden and the Old English blendan.  Because all German nouns are capitalized, Heckblende is correct but in English, heckblende is the usual spelling.

The German blende translates as “cover” so the construct Heck + Blende (one of their shorter compounds) happily deconstructs as “back cover” and that obviously describes the plastic mouldings used to cover the space between a car’s left and right-side taillights.  Blenden however can (as a transitive or intransitive) translate as (1) “to dazzle; to blind” in the sense of confuse someone’s sight by means of excessive brightness”, (2) (figuratively and usually as an intransitive) to show off; to pose (try to make an impression on someone by behaving affectedly or overstating one’s achievements) and (3) “to dazzle” in the sense of deception (from the 1680s German Blende (an ore of zinc and other metals, a back-formation from blenden (in the sense of "to blind, to deceive") and so called because the substance resembles lead but yields none (but should not be confused with the English construct hornblende (using the English “blende” in the sense of “mix”) (a dark-green to black mineral of the amphibole group, calcium magnesium iron and hydroxyl aluminosilicate)).  A heckblende thus (1) literally is a cover and (2) is there to deceive a viewer by purporting to be part of the rear lighting rather than something merely decorative (sic).  If a similar looking assembly is illuminated and thus part of the lighting system, then it's not a heckblende but part of a full-width taillight.  Heckblende is a noun; the noun plural is heckblendes.  Presumably, those who add the plastic pieces to heckblendless cars are heckblenders, the process being heckblending and the result something heckblended.

Three decades of progress in taillights.  The single, brass, oil-fired unit on a 1905 Maxwell Model L Tourabout (left) and a pair of 6-volt electric taillights on a 1934 Auburn Boattail Speedster (right).

On cars, the design of taillights stated modestly and few were in use before 1914, often a small, oil-lit single lens the only fitting.  Electric lights were by the 1920s standardized (although the oil lamps lingered on some commercial vehicles well into the next decade) while early legislation passed in many jurisdictions specified the need for red illumination to the rear (later also to indicate braking) but about the only detail specified was a minimum luminosity, shape, size and placement left to manufacturers.  Before the late 1940s, most taillights were purely functional with little attempt to make them design motifs although during the art deco era, there were some notably elegant flourishes but despite that, they remained generally an afterthought and on lower priced models, a second taillight was sometimes optional, the standard of a left and right-side unit not universal (in the West) until the 1950s.

A tale of the tails of two post-war economies:  1959 MGA Twin-Cam FHC & 1959 Daimler Majestic (upper) and 1959 Chevrolet Impala (batwing) flattop & 1959 DeSoto Adventurer convertible (lower).

It was in the 1950s the shape of tail lights became increasingly stylized.  With modern plastics freeing designers from the constraints the use of glass had imposed and the experience gained during World War II (1939-1945) in the mass-production of molded Perspex, new possibilities were explored.  In the UK and Europe, there was little extravagance, manufacturers content usually to take advantage of new materials and techniques mostly to fashion what were little more than larger, more rounded versions of what had gone before, the amber lens being adopted as turn indicators to replace the mechanically operated semaphore signals often little more than a duplication of the red taillight or an unimaginatively styled appendage.

1961 Chrysler Turboflite show car (left), 1966 Dodge Hemi Charger (centre) and 2024 Dodge Charger (right).

Across the Atlantic, US designers were more ambitious but one idea which for a while was flirted with without being used was the full-width taillight and that must have been by choice because it would have presented no challenges in engineering.  Instead, as the jet age became the space age, the dominant themes were aeronautical or recalled the mechanism of rocketry, taillights styled to resemble the exhausts of jet-engines or space ships, the inspiration as often from SF (science fiction or Sci-Fi) as the runway.  Pursuing that theme, much of the industry succumbed to the famous fin fetish, the tails of their macropterous creations emphasizing the vertical more than the horizontal.  Surprisingly though, despite having produced literally dozens of one-off “concept” and “dream” cars over the decade, it seems it wasn’t until 1961 when Chrysler sent their Turboflite around the show circuit that something with a genuine full-width taillight was shown.  A version appeared on the first Dodge Charger (1966-1967) and the corporation revived the look for the eighth generation (LB) Charger introduced in 2024 but the plastic fitting didn't attract much comment because most of the attention focused on the lack of a V8 engine.

1936 Tatra T87 (left), 1961 Tatra T603A prototype (centre) & 1963 Tatra T-603-X5 (right).  For students of art deco, the early Tatras have much appeal.

That same year, in Czechoslovakia, the Warsaw Pact’s improbable Bohemian home of the avant-garde, Tatra’s engineers considered full-width taillights for their revised 603A.  As indicated by the specification used since before the war (rear-engined with an air-cooled, 2.5 litre (155 cubic inch) all-aluminum V8), Tatra paid little attention to overseas trends and were influenced more by dynamometers and wind tunnels.  However, the taillights didn’t make it to volume production although the 603A prototype did survive to be displayed in Tatra’s Prague museum.  Tatra’s designs, monuments to mid-century modernism, remain intriguing.

1967 Imperial LeBaron four door Hardtop.

If the idea didn’t impress behind the iron curtain, it certainly caught on in the West, full-width assemblies used by many US manufacturers over the decades including Mercury, Imperial, Dodge, Shelby, Ford, Chrysler & Lincoln.  Some genuinely were full-width taillights in that the entire panel was illumined, a few from the Ford Motor Corporation (FoMoCo) even with the novelty of sequential turn-signals (outlawed in the early 1970s, bureaucrats seemingly always on the search for something to ban).  Most however were what would come to be called heckblendes and were intended to created only an illusion.

Some of FoMoCo's takes on the idea: Clockwise from top left: 1974 ZG Fairlane (AU), 1977 Thunderbird (US), 1966 Zodiac Mark IV (UK), 1970 Thunderbird (US), 1973 Landau (AU) & 1970 Torino (US).

Whether heckblendes or actually wired assemblies, Ford became especially fond of the idea which in 1966 made an Atlantic crossing, appearing on the Mark IV Zodiac, a car packed with advanced ideas but so badly executed it tarnished the name and when it (and the lower-priced Zephyr which made do without the heckblende) was replaced, the Zephyr & Zodiac names were banished from Europe, never to return.  Ford Australia picked-up the style (and typically several years later), using heckblendes on the ZF & ZG Fairlanes (1972-1976) and the P5 LTD & Landau (1973-1976).  The Fairlane’s heckblendes weren’t reprised when the restyled ZH (1976-1979) model was released but, presumably having spent so much of the budget on new taillights, the problem of needing new front end styling was solved simply by adapting that of the 1968 Mercury Marquis (the Marquis name also shamelessly borrowed for the up-market version), colonies often littered with cast-off hand-me-downs (men and machinery).

For the mainstream HK (1968-1969) range, Holden used the taillight assemblies to denote a model's place in the hierarchy: The basic Belmont (top left), the better equipped Kingswood (top right), the blinged-up Premier (bottom left) and the sporty Monaro GTS (bottom right): By their heckblende, its absence or partial implementation, they were known.  Those who like to construct adjectives might suggest the Belmont was heckbendless, the Kingswood heckblendish, the Premier heckblendesque and the Monaro GTS definitely heckblended.  In non-GTS form, the HK Monaro used (depending on the trim level ordered) the fittings from either the Belmont or Kingswood, a "Premier level" Monaro offered only as the "LS" in the HQ (1974-1974) & HJ (1974-1976) ranges.  It's not believed Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025) modelled the fall of his tie on the HK Premier but it's not impossible one may have sent him a subliminal message.   

In Australia, the local outpost of General Motors (GM) applied a double fake.  The "heckblende" on the HK Holdens (1968-1969), as a piece of cost-cutting, was actually red-painted metal rather than reflective plastic and unfortunately prone to deterioration under the southern hemisphere's harsh sun; it was a fake version of a fake taillight.  Cleverly though, the fake apparatus was used as a marker of the model's place in the pecking order, the Belmont (intended for fleet sales and the economy-minded) with just taillights, the (slightly) better-appointed Kingswood (the mainstream "entry-level" model) granted extensions, the up-market Premier (for the aspirational middle class) with extended extensions and the Monaro GTS (a coupé which, off the showroom floor, could be configured from "taxi-cab" specifications being almost race-track ready) fitted with a full-width part.  Probably the Belmont and Premier were ascetically most successful.  Exactly the same idea was recycled for Holden's VH Commodore (1981-1984), the SL/E (effectively the Premier's replacement) version's taillight assemblies gaining stubby extensions which, unfortunately, looked as "tacked-on" as they were.

Holdens: 1967 HR Premier (left), 1969 HT Brougham (centre) & 1971 HQ Premier (right).

The idea of a full-width decorative panel wasn’t new, Holden having used such a fitting as a signifier of "more expensive" on earlier Premiers.  Known as the “boot appliqué strip”, it began small on the EJ (1962-1963), EH (1963-1965) & HD (1965-1966) before becoming large and garish on the HR (1966-1968) but the gorp (what the industry used to call bling) must have been thought a bit much because it was toned down and halved in height when applied to the elongated (the trunk (boot) rather than the wheelbase!) and gorped-up Brougham (1968-1971 and a model reflecting what the industry then thought appealed to the bourgeoisie) and barely perceptible when used on the HQ Premier (1971-1974).  Holden didn’t however forget the heckblende and a quite large slab appeared on the VT Commodore (1997-2000) although it wasn’t retained on the revised VX (2000-2002) but whether in this the substantial rise in the oil price (and thus the cost of plastic) was a factor isn’t known.

Not done by the factory: Volvos, Peugeots, Volkswagens, BMWs and Mercedes-Benz and others all needlessly have been heckblended.  According to the originality police, the usually undocumented tenth circle of Hell is reserved for heckblenders.

Although, beginning with the mid-engined 914 (1969-1976) in 1973, Porsche was an early European adopter of the heckblende (since used with some frequently), it was the 1980s which were the halcyon days of after-market plastic, owners of smaller BMWs and Mercedes-Benz seemingly the most easily tempted.  The additions were always unnecessary and the only useful way they can be catalogued is to say some were worse than others.  Predictably, the fad spread to the East (Near, Middle & Far) and results there were just as ghastly although the popularity of the things must have been helpful as a form of economic stimulus, such was the volume in which they were extruded; reputedly, one factory in Pakistan had to expand to the building next door to meet demand.  Cross-culturally, among males aged 17-39, few things have proved as enduringly infectious as a love of gluing or bolting to cars, pieces of plastic which convey their owner's appalling taste.

All done by the factory: 1976 Porsche 914 2.0 with OEM (original equipment manufacturer) heckblende in Nepal Orange over black leatherette with orange & black plaid inserts.

These days, a designer might, for the right design, for a certain target market use orange paint or orange & black plaid but it's unlikely they'd be seen in combination; it'd be sort of like mixing spots & stripes.  The 1970s however were different and, for better and worse, there was more adventurism on the color charts although, regrettably, polka-dot upholstery never caught on.  The last Porsche 914s (1969-1976) were sold in 1976 but because the new 924 (1976-1988) wasn’t ready for production, to create an “entry-level” model for the vital US market, the factory resurrected the 912.  The original 912 (1965-1969) was essentially a four-cylinder 911 (1964-) with less elaborate appointments and fitted with a version of the 1.6 litre flat-four used in 356 (1946-1965) but the 1976 912E used the 2.0 litre Volkswagen unit from the 914 because the older engine had never been modified to comply with the new emission control rules.  The single-season 912E was an unexpected swansong for the 912 and although some 30% cheaper than the contemporary 911S, it sold in only one fifth the volume, a telling comparison with the mid 1960s when the 912 initially out-sold the 911.  So barely more than 2,000 912Es were built and the aftermarket was for decades subdued but the survival rate was high and although the prices realized don’t match the 912s of the 1960s (let alone the six cylinder cars), the 912E is now appreciated as a practical, well-built and surprisingly economical machine so prices have been rising. 

2019 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 with taillight bar.

After the 1980s, fewer manufacturers used heckblendes as original equipment and when they did the terminology varied, the nomenclature including "decor panels", "valances" or "tail section appliqués".  However, although it seemed the heckblende may have been headed for extinction, full-width taillights still entice stylists and modern techniques of design and production, combined with what LEDs (light-emitting diodes) & OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diode) have made possible, mean it’s again a popular feature, the preferred term now “taillight bar”.  Hopefully, the moment for resuscitated fad will be brief.

Lindsay Lohan with 2009 Porsche 911 (997; second phase) Carrera Cabriolet (left) and 2009 Porsche 911 (997; second phase) Carrera 4S Cabriolet (right).

After-market heckblendes appeal to a certain sub-section of the population but tend to be abhorred by the serious-minded.  However, even when fitted by the factory, factions form.  There are (1) the originality police who maintain if it was done by the factory, whatever the aesthetics, that’s the end of the matter, (2) those who detest the things on the basis of “too much plastic” and (3) the heckblende fan boys who just want the molding changed a bit.  Depending on the model, the Porsche 997 (2004-2013) was produced heckbelended and not and so specific are the requirements of some in the 911 cult (they prefer “911 community”) the feature (or its absence) might have been decisive when making a purchase.

Porsche 996 Carrera 4S (left), Porsche 997 Carrera 4S (centre) and Porsche 997 Carrera 4S with reddited taillights and heckblende (light bar).

As an example of the feeling, one redditor heckblende fan-boy thought the 997’s implementation lacked the visual integrity of that which appeared on the 996 (1997-2006 and the model which gained infamy for (1) “poached egg” headlights, (2) a fragile RMS (rear main seal) and (3) an IMS (intermediate shaft) bearing prone to failure).  Accordingly, redditor took to photoshop and “raised the bar (height)”, rendering an aspect ratio closer to that of the 996 while changing the taillight shape so the inner lower corner was a true 90^o angle.  The reddited re-imagining of course divided opinion and it unlikely there was much shifting of factional alignment within the cult.

Lolita

Lolita (pronounced loh-lee-tuh)

(1) A female given name, a form of Charlotte or Dolores.

(2) A 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov.

(3) Referencing the eponymous character in the novel, a nymphet (or a representation of one in pornography) or a sexually precocious young girl (usually critically).

Lolita is a female given name of Spanish origin. It is the diminutive form of Lola, a hypocorism of Dolores (Lolita thus a double diminutive) which, depending on the source translates in Spanish as "suffering" or “sorrows”, the latter tending to be preferred because of the link with Maria de los Dolores.  Without any etymological evidence, some other (presumably fanciful) suggestions of meaning have included "a princess who loves pastel colors", "flower of love", "vivacious and beautiful" & "with a man's spirit".

As a given name, Dolores originated from La Virgen María de los Dolore (Virgin Mary of the Sorrows (dolores translating in Spanish as sorrows), one of the many titles given to the Blessed Mother in Spanish Roman Catholic tradition.  In the context of the Roman Catholic Church, Mary’s sorrows refer to seven events which occurred during her lifetime: (1) The Circumcision of Jesus, (2) the Flight from Jerusalem when Mary and Joseph take the baby Jesus to Egypt to protect him from King Herod of Judea’s orders to kill him, (3) the Finding in the Temple when Mary and Joseph lose the child Jesus only to find him later dwelling in the Temple among the elders, (4) Mary’s meeting with Jesus on the way to Calvary, (5) Jesus’ death on the cross, (6) Mary receiving the body of Jesus in her arms after he is taken down from the cross and (7) the placing of Jesus in the tomb.  The most observant Catholics observe a daily ritual in which they recite Our Father and seven Hail Marys in homage to the seven sorrows.  In the Spanish tradition, there are several given names derived from the many epithets given to the Blessed Mother, other examples including Concepción (referring to Mary’s immaculate conception); Corazón (referring to Mary’s immaculate heart); Luz (Our Lady of the “Light”); Mercedes (Our Lady of “Mercy”); Milagros (Our Lady of “Miracles”); Pilar (Our Lady of the “Pillars”); Rosario (Our Lady of the “Rosary”); and Soledad (Our Lady of “Solitude”).  From the late nineteenth century Dolores became popular among American Catholics and Nabokov’s novel seems briefly to have induced a spike in popularity which the later film adaptation (which reached a wider popular audience) may have quelled.  In the US, popularity peaked in 1963 and it’s never really recovered from the prurient associations explored by Nabokov.  Despite the reservations of parents in the English-speaking world, Lolita the name remains popular among Spanish speakers and in Europe.  In Latvia, Lolita’s name day is 30 May.

Sue Lyon in “Lolita Glasses” in Lolita (1962).  The most emblematic of the type are the sunglasses with the heart-shaped lens but the label is applied to many thick-rimmed styles, especially those with the sleek, “cats eye” shape.

Lindsay Lohan in Lolita glasses.

The 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was controversial even before being published in French, English language houses, sensing trouble, having initially declined the manuscript and nor has there ever been any consensus about the literary merit.  Coincidently or not, there had been a Imperial-era German short-story about a girl called Lolita.  Published in 1916 by Heinz von Lichberg (the pen-name of Heinz von Eschwege (1890-1951)), it was not dissimilar in its themes and there are a number of reasons it may have been Nabokov was influenced although, given the structural differences, plagiarism is too strong a word.  Whatever the qualities of the text, it remains interesting as a canvas onto which can be mapped the changing attitudes to child abuse (and its artistic depiction).  Tellingly, when Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) in 1962 adapted the novel for the screen, many aspects of the original were toned down and twelve-year old Lolita was re-imagined as fourteen, a change necessitated by the rules in some markets and it may have been hoped that if that was acceptable for Shakespeare’s Juliet, it was good enough for Kubrick’s Lolita.  Even as a morality tale, it was ambiguous; although the transgressive male protagonists all die in various unpleasant ways, so too do Lolita and her mother, the nominal female victims.

Sue Lyon, photographed by Bert Stern in 1960 for a pre-release publicity set.

What came to be called “Lolita glasses” (which are to this day marketed under that label) are the thick-rimmed items worn in the 1962 by Sue Lyon (1946-2019), aged between 14-15 at the time of filming.  The most famous of the glasses, with the heart-shaped lens, were chosen by photographer Bert Stern (1929-2013) who Kubrick in 1960 commissioned to produce some still images to be used in pre-release publicity.  Stern was already well known for his photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and would later create a famous set of images of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), the style of which he controversially reprised in 2008 with Lindsay Lohan (b 1986) as the subject.

Popularity of the name Lolita in the US, 1900-2017.  Impressionistically, as might be expected, a film will influence popular culture more than literary fiction, regardless of content.