Playgirl Magazine was designed for the woman in mind although let’s face it many of us gay men have perused at least one of its articles since it launched in the early 70’s.
The legendary publication, which had many hunky cover stars including the late Burt Reynolds, Lorenzo Lamas and Benjamin Bratt, is back 4 years after it originally folded.
The street day for the first issue of the relaunch is this coming Monday, October 26. “The title, which dates back to 1973, has a scantily clad history of putting the male form on full display,” wrote Interview’s Mitchell Nugent. “From 1973 to 2016, when the magazine folded, the definition and shape of masculinity have evolved tremendously.”
Playgirl‘s new editor Jack Lindley-Kuhns had this to say about what fans can expect from the mag’s latest iteration.
He “will unveil a modern mold for the traditionally nudie magazine this month — a mold that looks beyond a simple state of undress. Sure, the infamous centerfold will make its comeback, but in a far more decadent way. Nudity will, of course, be a focal point, but the relaunch will also make way for thought leaders of our era, much like Playgirl once attracted contributors like Eve Babitz and Maya Angelou.”
“I think one of the best things about Playgirl is it can be interpreted in so many different ways,” he told Interview, “whether starting from entertainment for women; to moving into the ’80s; and the ’90s that were so celebrity-focused; and then it turns into porn. I knew when I saw the early years how relevant it could be today.”
Playgirl, according to their new publisher, “represents an open message that eroticism has no gender right now, and no sexual tendency, and Playgirl is pure eroticism on paper to take home. It’s a fantasy. The magazine was focused on the idea of desire, but desire in every topic they touch—in the environment, health, politics. It’s a magazine about desire.”
Playgirl earned a ton of notoriety 11 years ago when Levi Johnston, then boyfriend to Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin‘s daughter Bristol, let it almost all hang out in his own cheeky spread. Only thing we didn’t see, unfortunately, was his front. The back however, well, go search for yourself.