By contrast the original Playgirl at its peak in the mid-to-late 70s had been selling 1.5 million copies. The new Playgirl, born in an age when clickbait cats posts compete with in-depth magazine reporting, debuted with fewer than 10,000 copies in major US cities and London before selling out and going back to press.

We wanted to focus on the human side rather than photograph her with a lot of layers between her and the camera.” “It seemed like a much less sexual and much more human way to look at the female body,” said Parrott.Īnd while Parrott admits there were hair and make-up stylists on board for the mid-March shoot, which took place right before coronavirus lockdowns shuttered New York City, she says the idea was to keep the image deliberately minimalist. “We wanted a more honest and female gaze,” said Parrott, who snagged Italian photographer Mario Sorrenti to do the shoot. The photo is captivating not for its nudity - a nod to Tina Brown’s famous 1991 Vanity Fair cover that featured a nude and pregnant Demi Moore - but for the actress’s apparent lack of airbrushing and stylizing. But Parrott says she’s attempting to capture the enlightened feminist appeal of the mags early years, which boasted writers like Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem and Joyce Carol Oates, and not the porn mag for gay men it became when it folded in 2015.Īnd unlike the original 1973 issue, there’s not a man in sight on the cover.įor her debut issue, Parrott relied instead on a nude and very pregnant Chloë Sevigny known for a string of cutting edge films, picking up an Academy Award nomination for the “Boys Don’t Cry,” and portraying Nicolette Grant for five years on the HBO series “Big Love.”Īt the top it reads: “We’ll take it from here.” It’s now owned by Jack Lindley Kuhns, who two years ago tapped Skye Parrott, former co-founder of the art and fashion magazine Dossier, to be editor-in-chief of the relaunch. Like the first edition - founded by LA nightclub owner Douglas Lambert with Marin Scott Milan helming editorial - the current incarnation is also a man/woman tag-team. Playgirl returned to newsstands this month and like the original that debuted in 1973, it quickly sold out.

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