5 Feet of Fury

Model who inspired ‘Rosie the Riveter’ WWII poster dies at 86

Geraldine Hoff Doyle was just another young factory worker in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1942. But a chance visit to the plant by a United Press photographer was to make her one of the most recognisable faces in poster art.

The 17 year old was operating a metal-stamping machine when the photographer passed by — and couldn’t resist taking a picture of the tall, slender and glamorously beautiful brunette wearing a polka-dot bandana over her hair.


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The image became an instant classic and was later adopted by the women’s rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.