Meet the SuicideGirls – the heavily tattooed ‘pin ups and burlesque superstars’ whose sexy shoots drive the ‘alternative’ world wild
There are 3,000 official SuicideGirls and creator Missy Suicide says she gets 50,000 applications a year
MEET the SuicideGirls: an international girl group of ultra-non-conformist burlesque beauties and pin-up superstars.
They form an online community created by Selena Mooney - who goes by the moniker Missy Suicide - and Sean Suhl, also known as Spooky.
The website is home to pin-up photographs of alternative, tattoo-covered models known as the SuicideGirls.
"I wanted to create a place where girls can express themselves," says Missy. "Feel comfortable being uniquely themselves... and embrace their bodies"
Missy's definition of a true SuicideGirl is someone "that does not fit in with regular beauty standards".
"She often has piercings and tattoos and more," Missy explains. "But really, it's about the attitude of creating her own definition of beauty."
The term is thought to have originated from Chuck Palahniuk's book, Survivor.
In it, the girls all commit "social suicide" because they don't want to fit in, hence the "Suicide Girls".
Missy created the site from her bedroom in Portland, Oregon, in 2001 as an alternative to what she brands the "limited definition of beauty" at that time.
She says: "There was either the stick-thin body type or the silicon-enhanced blonde Pamela Anderson type.
There are now 3,000 official Suicide Girls from every continent and Missy says she receives 50,000 applications a year.
"Our community is quite large," she says. "Everybody feels like an outsider at some point in their lives."
Girls wanting to join must be 18 or older and must identify as a woman.
Hopefuls are asked to provide a set of 40 to 60 photos going from fully clothed to fully nude.
Missy described being a SuicideGirl as being a "member of the coolest and most supportive sorority" in the world.
She adds: "Every girl is celebrated for being unique and beautiful in her own way so there is no competition."
Thousands of girls are full-time photographers, performers, lingerie designers, gamers, artists and models.
Founded in 2001, SuicideGirls has continued to stay relevant while other early 2000 darlings such as MySpace, Friendster and Bebo all dwindled.
The collective puts on a show called the "Blackheart Burlesque" which Missy describes as "pop culture nerdgasm".
It features routines themed around Star Wars, superheroes, TV shows, movies and video games.
"This isn’t your Grandpa’s shimmy-shimmy burlesque; these girls are bad-ass dancers in storm trooper helmets."
The routines are all set to a - as the SuicideGirls describe it - ‘kick ass’ soundtrack with some very impressive choreography.
The SuicideGirl website has members from every corner of the planet, though most of the site is only accessible to paying members.
They have over 7.1 million followers on Instagram and many of the images leaving little to the imagination.