"A Rainbow of Colors" - Page 4 of 5

Bunny Avis Miller in a psychedelic costume.

The original satin uniform came in ten colors, and by 1962 there were 12 from which to choose. It was up to each Club's Bunny Mother (who managed the Bunnies) to make sure no one suit was ever in overabundance, thus keeping a rainbow of colors on the floor. In fact, the only place a Keyholder could find identically-clad Bunnies was in each Club's VIP room, where the Bunnies wore blue velvet trimmed in silver lamé. "We tried to go for a contrast between skin color, hair color and eye color," says Lacey, a former Bunny mother at the LA Club. "The darker-skinned Bunnies looked best in pinks and the powder-blues, and most redheads got a green costume. Of course, if a girl had gorgeous blue eyes, you'd want to put her in a blue costume."

But what every Bunny really wanted was a black suit. "They were considered the most elegant," Scott says. They got so popular that eventually a Bunny had to earn the privilege of wearing one. "It would be the most senior girl, or a Bunny who really excelled in her duties, or epitomized what we called 'The Bunny Image,' who got to wear the black costume," Lacey says.

Hef and the LA Bunnies wearing
"Bunny Cabaret" suits.

In the late Sixties the Playboy Clubs broke away from the 12-color standard and started designing suits in everything from leopard prints to psychedelic Pucci swirls. A favorite was one nicknamed the "Wonder Bread" costume because it was covered in multicolored polka dots. There were even holiday Bunnies for December, who wore red velvet trimmed in white fur. In an attempt to update the suit, a lace and satin "Bunny Cabaret" costume was developed in 1980 and worn until the last Playboy Club closed its doors in 1991.

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Photo by David Chan.
Photo from the Archives of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. Text and images copyright of Playboy.com.