One of the standard "sexy" poses.
A common Modeling Pose where the person places one hand on the side or back of her head and the other on her hip/buttock. This pose is generally associated with modeling since it tends to draw more attention to a woman's curves. It also has a certain versatility in that it can be both a Fanservice-y pose and simultaneously elegant depending on how it is utilized or framed. It is also often associated with pin-up models. This pose is used for a few reasons:
1. The largely forward-facing nature of the pose, combined with making the poser take up slightly more space, make her appear more confident, in a way making it the inverse of the Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose.
2. By having one hand on the head, it draws attention to the woman's face, along with her hair.
3. Meanwhile the hand on her hip/buttock draws attention there, to show off that she has nice hips or a shapely posterior (if placed further back rather than forward). This can be further emphasized by pivoting her stance so that the hip is more prominent, or by shaking her hips.
4. The placements together guide the viewer's eyes in such a way that that they notice the woman's curves.
5. When being used to show off an outfit like a dress, it keeps the overall image dynamic and interesting while not blocking the clothing they're trying to display.
In addition to the basic pose, extra touches can be added such as Foot Popping or twisting or pivoting to the side. It also can be tweaked by being done while lying down, often invoking Reclining Reigner or Ready for Lovemaking.
A character who strikes this pose is likely Ms Fan Service or The Fashionista, at least in more straight examples. If done playfully it is often meant to imitate or invoke such characters. They may also be a fashion model.
Can be combined with a Contrapposto Pose, though a full-on combination of the two may be a little over the top. Compare Ready for Lovemaking, a similar pose performed on a bed that's more explicitly sexual, and Boobs-and-Butt Pose.
Examples:
- Chapter 104 of Freezing. Ouka thinks how Satellizer looks like a model and imagines her assuming this pose. The narration box flat out points out that she never did.
- In Chapter 130 of Komi Can't Communicate, the protagonists' new class is forced to perform their self-introductions in accordance to whatever is stipulated by a dice roll. When the turn comes for Shouko Komi, the crippingly shy female protagonist, her dice roll requires her to do a "sexy pose" while performing her self-introduction. She (very reluctantly) puts one hand on the back of her head and the other hand on her hip as her choice of "sexy pose".
- In the 2007 Alpha Flight reboot, a mutant Amazonian Beauty named Daisy shows off with one of these to a couple of onlookers after sending U.S. Agent flying with a Megaton Punch.
- Wonder Woman (2006): Circe uses this pose and a seductive line along with a sexed up disguise as Wonder Woman to disarm Nemesis long enough to poison and capture him to use as bait for Diana.
- Danny Cat from Cats Don't Dance passes various windows of The Brown Derby restaurant and physically mimics two of the patrons inside: Stanley Laurel and Mae West. The real Mae West is adopting this head-and-hips pose while a dozen photographers' flashbulbs ignite. The doorman, who'd been shadowing Danny to chase him off the property, inadvertently photobombs this moment.
- In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, while confiding to detective Eddie Valiant, Jessica Rabbit does a variant by walking with both hands on her wide, wiggly hips. Jessica's hairstyle, a la Veronica Lake, makes the hand-to-head gesture unnecessary. She does the pose while speaking the line:
Jessica: You don't know how hard it is, being a woman looking the way I do.
- In Hercules the muses strike this pose on occasion, Melpomene in particular strikes it a lot, for example at the end of "Zero to Hero".
- This picture
◊ of Jean Harlow in the from the photoshoot of the 1929 film The Saturday Night Kid
- True Jackson, VP: When Amanda is trying to teach True how to walk on the red carpet, she attempts to teach her to pose in this style. When True doesn't want to, Amanda tries to prove to her that "even a monkey can do it" by telling Kopelman to pose and watching him immediately stand in this position for the imaginary camera.
- Cat Hairballs: During the line "hey let's make a three piece suit/of this freshly hwarfed up hair" a woman strikes this pose, touching her huge hat and her hip, to show off her dress.
- Blinky Bill: Daisy Dingo does one in "Blinky And The Film Star"◊ when flirting with Blinky, Flap and Splodge.
- In the Ren & Stimpy episode "The Cat Who Laid the Golden Hairball", a model is seen on TV striking this pose while showing off a dress made out of hairballs.
- Played for Laughs with Olive Oyl from the Fleischer Studios series of Popeye cartoons. Olive has a telephone-pole physique (19" bust, 19" waist, 19" hips according to canon), so this pose is a parody of the trope.
- Red Hot Riding Hood does this pose often, both in her original short and the follow-up shorts.
