The Unpublishable Pop-up Book of Burlesque

Peter Larkin set out to create a pop-up book about burlesque where the clothes came off. The result is a sophisticated book about twirling tassels that will never be published.

Peter Larkin is an award-winning production designer for film and theatre. He began his career in the early 1950s, and soon became one of Broadway’s most respected art directors.

For the last twenty years, however, he has immersed himself in another passion – burlesque. He set out to create a pop-up book of burlesque where the clothes would actually come off. The result is a sophisticated pop-up full of extravagant stage scenes, pink feathers and pop-up breasts in the true spirit of classic burlesque.

Larkin calls it Panties Inferno.

Sadly, it will most likely never see the light of day. Publishers have deemed it unpublishable, but not for the reason you may think. It seems the stripping ladies and illustrated nipple tassels are fine. The problem is Larkin engineered a pop-up book that would cost way too much to manufacture.

via The Paris Review