Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner died Wednesday at the age of 91.
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In the early days of Playboy, the magazine was must-buy material for anyone seeking titillation and female nudity. But the publication has been evolving since it was founded with $8,000 in 1953.
By the '60s, what had started as a men's magazine had transformed into a burgeoning lifestyle brand with nightclubs, and its own homegrown celebrities. And later, for Hefner, it also included a rotating roster of gorgeous girlfriends.
In recent years, with the internet making pornography and explicit images readily available to anyone with a connection, Playboy was starting to look comparably tame. Rather than moving in a more explicit direction, Playboy tried to make its product less graphic and safer to consume anywhere for several years. Its website stopped publishing nude photos in August 2014, and its print edition followed suit until early 2017 when Hefner's son, Cooper, said "removing it entirely was a mistake."
The women celebrated by Playboy — from the models to Hef's girlfriends — have also changed drastically throughout the decades as body types, hairstyles, and fashions have gone in and out of style. Over the years, the Playboy woman has become ever thinner and blonder, and now, it remains to be seen how this aesthetic will morph as Playboy looks toward the future without Hefner.
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Keep reading to see how the Playboy bunny has evolved from 1953 to today.
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