A Colony of Colors: The Iconic Playboy Bunny
Hugh Hefner passed away on September 27 at the age of 91. Although a highly controversial figure, he made lasting contributions to American pop culture (and Los Angeles in particular). Below, Curator Kevin Jones shares his research on the iconic Playboy Bunny uniform, donated to the Museum in 2013 by Melissa Mandolf-Smith.
The adult entertainment magazine Playboy is as ‘American as apple pie,’ as the cliché goes. Hugh Hefner, a former copywriter for Esquire magazine, had an idea to start a men’s magazine which not only tapped into the male sexual zeitgeist, but at the same time educated him about music, literature, and sports. The first issue of Playboy debuted in December 1953. As for the ubiquitous Playboy Rabbit logo, Hefner explained: “I selected a rabbit as the symbol for the magazine because of the humorous sexual connotation, and because he offered an image that was frisky and playful. I put him in a tuxedo to add the idea of sophistication…[which] struck me as charming, amusing and right.”
Playboy Bunny Uniform, c. 1977
The Mondrian-inspired Chicago Playboy Club opened in 1960, and this next phase in the development of the Playboy mystique became an immediate success. Clubs opened far and wide, from Los Angeles to New York to London to Tokyo. In 1959, Victor Lownes, Promotions Director, was dating playmate Ilsa Taurins, who suggested using the tuxedo-clad Rabbit mascot as the inspiration for the Chicago Club’s waitress costume. Lownes later reminisced: “It was my girlfriend’s concept. The bunny was originally intended as a male symbol…the playboy of the animal kingdom. When Hefner decided to open the clubs…he finally came around to our idea to make the bunny into a female.” And, conveniently, Ilsa’s mother was a seamstress who stitched up the prototype.
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Scents and Sensibilities
Have you visited the FIDM Museum's Annette Green Fragrance Gallery on the second floor of our Los Angeles campus? This intimate space has held a range of exhibitions showcasing fragrance, jewelry, and accessories. We are happy to announce our new exhibition Scents and Sensibilities: A Century of Fragrance Concepts will open in this gallery on Monday, September 25! Please note: to see this exhibition, check-in with a photo ID is required at the FIDM security desk inside the ground floor rotunda. Exhibition hours are Monday -Friday, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Shocking by Schiaparelli
Gift of Annette Green
F2005.860.820AB
Scents and Sensibilities: A Century of Fragrance Concepts explores themes central to the creation of modern fragrances and corresponding branding, and emphasizes that personal identification with a fragrance can be more than love at first sniff—but also at first glance.
Artistic expression associated with perfume is essentially a twentieth-century phenomenon. On a practical level, fragrance bottles perform one necessary function: to contain and preserve a liquid concoction. Commercial success, however, relies on much more than just a utilitarian vessel: a conceptual approach to packaging and marketing has proven every bit as important and nuanced as the perfumier’s scent itself.
Elements contributing to a perfume’s popularity include the name, bottle design, label graphics, packaging type, and promotion. All facets should complement one another to achieve optimal results. A scent’s inspirational (or aspirational) name, logo, and the emotion visualized in advertisements are less tangible than physical presentation boxes (though packaging is more ephemeral and expendable). Purposefully designed bottles, also called flacons, may be regarded as artworks long after the last drop is gone. Together, these many layers combine to support one of the core tenets of fashion: to spark consumer desire.
As someone who obsesses over costume design - how it fits the character and the story, or how it might influence fashion designers and the masses - I was especially excited to join the team at the FIDM Museum this summer while they prepared for the 11th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design exhibition. In the weeks that we spent dressing the mannequins with costumes from shows like The Crown, Westworld, The Handmaid’s Tale and Stranger Things, it was incredible not only to see the construction and craftsmanship behind the pieces, but to feel a connection to the characters and the fictional worlds in which they reside.
Since the advent of moving pictures, audiences have connected with film and television costume design, the characters’ ensembles influencing fashion in a multitude of ways. The relationship between fashion and costume design might manifest itself in direct partnerships - like that of Banana Republic and Mad Men or The Limited and Scandal - or in aesthetic details that fashion designers, retail buyers, and consumers alike have culled from their favorite costumes. Costume design continues to inspire audiences, as the public’s recent response to a certain dragon queen’s winter look might suggest!
And yet, there is another way in which a fashion brand might capitalize on the public’s love for film and television: through the names of the brands themselves. During my first week interning, curator Kevin Jones introduced me to a collection of labels acquired by the museum, with names such as “Funny Girl” and “Paper Moon.” Upon looking through the labels, I wondered what the relationship between the original media and these companies might be.
A selection of the vintage fashion labels in the FIDM Museum’s collection.
After Funny Girl was released on Broadway (1964) and in film (1968), the movie’s title and costumes influenced a number of manufacturers. In 1968, Mr. Roberts Fashions acquired an exclusive license to manufacture tops based on the film’s costumes, while in January of 1969, the film’s producers granted another company, Phyllis Inc., the ability to use the name “Funny Girl” for its new line of girls’ sportswear.[1]
Funny Girl label, FIDM Museum collection.
This label in the FIDM Museum’s collection (above) corresponds to a later iteration of the “Funny Girl” name, a junior denim and sportswear line owned by Salant & Salant.[2] As one can see from the advertisement originally published in Seventeen below, the designs do not correspond to Irene Sharaff’s period costumes for the film; however, the “Funny Girl” name and its association with the Broadway show are capitalized in the marketing of the brand in an earlier ad in Women’s Wear Daily.