CAN PLAYBOY BE EMPOWERING [NOW]?
by Kristin Merrilees
The silhouette of a rabbit in a bowtie used to be inextricably linked with wealthy, middle-aged men, the glossy pages of a NSFW magazine, and nightclubs where beautiful, dolled-up “Bunnies” would serve cocktails under the male gaze.
But today, you’ll find a very different crowd enamored with the iconic Playboy logo: young people, wearing cropped black sweatshirts with the white “PLAYBOY” letters across them, donning the rabbit on sterling silver necklaces, saving photos of pink Playboy rhinestone-tank tops on their “y2k” Pinterest boards.
The Playboy brand has long been inseparable from the legacy of its founder Hugh Hefner. While Hefner proclaimed the brand as at the forefront of a sexual revolution that rebelled against America’s purity culture, it did so in a way that objectified women in order to be “Entertainment for Men,” the magazine’s long-running subtitle. In this way, Playboy was antithetical to the feminist cause, promoting the idea that women were for men’s enjoyment and entertainment and not intelligent, ambitious people of their own. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem went “undercover” as a Bunny and detailed the exploitative working conditions she endured in a piece called “A Bunny’s Tale.” And yet, Playboy is now worn by influencers and fashion-forward teens from a generation known to not only care about feminist and social values, but expect the brands they support to do the same. So what’s changed?
First, we must note that Playboy has reframed itself largely as a consumer brand, offering clothes and lifestyle products, separate from the magazine it was long-famous for, which I will also discuss. There’s a few notable ongoing collaborations that have put Playboy in all of our closets right now.
The first is with Missguided, a UK brand with a consumer base ranging from women in their late teens to early twenties. You can buy sweats, crop tops, mini skirts, and accessories, all emblazoned with the Playboy label or rabbit logo. I would describe the collection as a blend of athleisure and Y2K style, available in today’s trendiest colors: millennial pink, light blue, brown, cream, and of course the classic Playboy black and white.
The second big collaboration is with Pacsun, also a brand for teens and adults (both men and women). The current Women’s Fall Collection includes hot pink and lavender terry-fabric shorts & crop top sets, a black “E-Girl Lace Mini Dress,” black slides that say “Spoiled” in rhinestones, with the rabbit logo in the place of the “o.”
Playboy x Pacsun Valentine’s Day collection:
These collaborations have occurred alongside a major attempt at a rebrand, one that establishes Playboy as an advocate for everyone’s pleasure and wellbeing, not just men’s. The new Playboy (which at the time of writing this is released online only biannually) “is edited by a millennial triumvirate,” and the “result is a magazine that is virtually unrecognizable from the one Mr. Hefner created — and for the first time in Playboy’s history, with no Hefners involved,” wrote Jessica Bennett in The New York Times. Completely separated from the Hefner family both creatively and financially, “Playmates — who no longer appear on the cover — are primarily shot by other women, with artsy angles and intimacy coordinators on set.”
Now, I usually turn to The Atlantic or The New Yorker (or uhh, Twitter) for my social commentary and not a magazine long-advertised as “entertainment for men,” but scrolling down the Playboy website to click on the section called “Read It For the Articles” (a long-running joke about the magazine’s variety of high-profile writers and interviewees, whose work may be just a bit overshadowed by centerfolds of nude women), I was pleasantly surprised.
Essays about psychedelics, the demonization of female pleasure, and the problem of gentrification in Los Angeles are interspersed with pieces about Playboy Bunnies and the Mansion’s annual Midsummer Night’s Dream party. A 2020 interview with Phoebe Bridgers is just clicks away from one in 1990 of Donald Trump. It seems that the rebrand acknowledges the legend of Playboy while also clearly separating itself from it.
Today’s fashions don’t shy away from the two contradictory eras of the brand. Playboy itself sells sweatshirts with old covers — which feature bold, seductive imagery and Playmates posing in lingerie — on them. Pacsun’s “Memories 17’’ Swim Trunks” are patterned with polaroid photos of Playboy women in bikinis. In fact, there’s even a recent TikTok trend where women make their own Playboy cover hoodies of themselves, often giving them to their boyfriends.
Wearing Playboy clothes can mean something different (or nothing at all - fashion is fashion!), to everyone, but the brand’s popularity might in part be explained by its legacy and “edge factor.” It also recalls the glitz and glamour of the Y2K era, during which branded Playboy clothing was also popular. It might also bring the same ethos of partying and lavishness that Hefner himself was known for, possibly through its streetwear collections with Supreme, Anti Social Social Club, and Joyrich, the latter of which was notably worn by YouTubers and influencers Ethan and Grayson Dolan.
In one sense, the resurgence of Playboy may be “not that deep” – it looks cool, and 2000s styles are in right now. On the other hand, it’s part of a greater conversation about female empowerment and attitudes towards sexuality. An article published in The Washington Post in 2003(!) stated the following: “The real deal is this. Teenage girls are snatching up the very symbol of a lifestyle that their mothers’ generation derided as sexist and exploitative.” It profiles a 16-year-old named Cassie, who is at the mall looking at Playboy clothing and makes it clear that while she does find the brand personally empowering, she also sees it as a way to get boys’ attention.
As it still features nudity, many wonder if the new Playboy, despite its inclusive language and artistic framework, still has the same effect as the original: the objectification of women. One commenter on the Times’ piece wrote, “Third-wave ‘sex-positivity’ means repackaging the objectification of women as ‘hip,’ not challenging patriarchy or male supremacy… No structures change, men give nothing up, and we are just conned into believing that objectification is ‘natural’ and feels good.” There’s an idea that the way women, especially teen girls, are encouraged to be sexually liberated isn’t actually freeing or fighting systems of oppression, but simply appealing to the ever-present male gaze.
Read & see more by Kristin + more about the Playboy revival in our 2021 HOT VAXXD SUMMER zine.