The Sex Symbol of the Twentieth Century - The Playboy Bunny

The first sex kitten of the Sixties wasn't a kitten at all. From her dyed-to-match three-inch pumps to the tips of her satin ears, she was all Bunny. When the first Playboy Club opened its doors on a windy Chicago night in 1960, the image of the Playboy Bunny became the first symbol of the pending sexual revolution. Over the past 40 years she has inspired artists, fashion designers, writers and filmmakers. And she couldn't have done it without her famous outfit. Here's how the girl in the Bunny suit became an icon of pop culture. The original Playboy Club in Chicago was patterned after the city's exclusive Gaslight Club, an elegant key club for Second City powerbrokers and VIPs. When Playboy Magazine ran an article about Gaslight in 1959, reader response was overwhelming. Playboy Promotions Director Victor Lownes pitched an idea to the notorious Hue Heffner proposing to bring the magazine’ s bachelor pad image to life in playboys own Ubran Hangout. Hef loved the concept, but a key element was still missing. 

The "Gaslight Girls" served their male patrons in Gay Nineties-style corsets and fishnet tights, and the Playboy Club needed a sexy costume of its own. Hef's first thought was to have scantily-clad "Playmates" in nighties serving drinks, but a better idea soon came. Ilsa Taurins, a girlfriend of Heff’s looked at the magazine's logo and suggested the idea of seeing the girls as “rabbits”, which was rejected. Taurins was determined and tinkered with a costume design with her mother. A few days later she entered the half-finished Chicago Club in a satin bodice, fluffy tail and headband with ears, and a new sex symbol was born, the beginning of the infamous Playboy Bunny suite. But the true art of the suit was in the details. "A lot of thought went into this costume," says Pat Lacey, Director of Playmate and Bunny Promotions for Playboy and a 13-year veteran of the LA Club. "There are so many things that people don't realize that were really thought out so that Bunny could perform her job very easily and at the same time remain glamorous and graceful." Every girl was required to wear a pair of nude nylons under her black ones so that Bunnies of all races had the same skin tone. There was still class and elegance that Heff wanted to portray. In the late Sixties the Playboy Clubs broke away from the 12-color standard and started designing suits in everything from leopard prints to psychedelic Pucci swirls. 

A favorite was one nicknamed the "Wonder Bread" costume because it was covered in multicolored polka dots. There were even holiday Bunnies for December, who wore red velvet trimmed in white fur. In an attempt to update the suit, a lace and satin "Bunny Cabaret" costume was developed in 1980 and worn until the last Playboy Club closed its doors in 1991.

            Today, the Playboy Bunny suite is still a hit within Costumes. Almost every Halloween you will find at least one girl rocking the bunny ears and the silk corset. We found this history to be interesting because for our generation, we are already inclined to see a bunny costume to Playboy. Who knew such a simple concept had so much production. Gotta love fashion. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Inside a Moroccan Bath

Inside a Moroccan Bath is an article of an older woman, Hanan reminiscing her battle with body image, as she sits in a women's bathhouse in Morocco. She is shocked by the discovery that she is not completely at ease with the shape of her body.

Growing up, Hanan struggled with body image, because she was "too thin". Peers lead her to believe that she was too thin because she was told nearly every day. Friends and lovers would make degrading comments like, "Why are you so thin?" "Why don't you just eat some macaroni?"

"Being thin meant I was branded as sickly and physically weak, and so I was never encouraged in sports or picked for teams. Hanan had jealousy toward for the "ripe, round cheeks of the other girls, and their chubby arms and legs."

One boyfriend even said to her, "I know what your problem is. It's because you're thin. That's what's responsible for all your grief. This uncertainty. You have to put on weight. A few kilos you'll see, you'll be a different person."

No matter what Hannan ate, she could not gain weight because she was genetically thin. She claimed she did nothing to change her image until she saw a poster of Audrey Hepburn that stick in her mind. She felt she had come to take revenge on Bridget Bardot's curvy figure, with Audrey Hepburn's slim figure. Hanan felt she could relate to Hepburn because they were both misunderstood with slim bodies. Hanan followed everything Hepburn did in the media, and even copied the way she dressed and mimicked her personality traits. At last, she felt she could relate to someone, and she was comfortable in her own skin.

Fast forward to present, Hanan finds herself soaking in a public bathhouse in Morocco and she is ashamed of her figure again. She is instantly brought back to her negative self- image, and is ashamed to get dressed in front of the other full-figured, Moroccan women.

This article is examines the cross-cultural standards of beauty. In the US culture, especially Los Angeles, being thin is the holy grail of most people. We are constantly bombarded by media ads, magazines, and commercials about striving to be thin. In contrast, as Hanan viewed the plump women in the Moroccan baths, she felt uncomfortable because she was thin.  Now more comfortable in her body, she is still struck by the ancient standards of beauty and brought back to her once insecure teen self. In conclusion, the standards of beauty and body shape all root from cultural standards.

-Kelsey & Kirstin