Hare Apparel

The registered Playboy Bunny Costume is a modern American classic. In the years since it was introduced at the first Playboy Club in Chicago in 1960, it has been worn by thousands of women, including, for one reason or another, actress/model Lauren Hutton, feminist author Gloria Steinem and a young staff reporter for the old NBC Today show, Barbara Walters. Lauren actually worked as a New York Bunny; the two others were on assignment, investigating the mystique that has grown up around the Bunnies. Nearly 20 years ago, the costume was considered a little risqué--and a traffic stopper of the first order. It may have had wives and girlfriends up in arms, but it brought husbands and boyfriends thronging to the Playboy Club. Now, of course, the Bunny Costume is a part of Americana, much like cowboy boots or pinstripes on ballplayers. So how do you improve on a classic? Maybe you don't. But we've always been fascinated by the possibilities. And in that spirit, we've commissioned eight of the world's top fashion designers to come up with alternative styles. While they may never replace the original, their traffic-stopping capabilities are obvious.