French ‘Playboy’ Turns Us On … to Fashion

It’s fashion, we swearPhoto: Taki Bibelas; image via ilove80.be


There we were drinking pomegranate mimosas, lazily flipping through French Playboy on Easter Sunday (hey, no judging here), as the Cut is wont to do, when it hit us: French Playboy is the new French Vogue. Allow us to explain.

Sure, the Gallic mag shares some of the same spread-eagle poses as its U.S. counterpart, and in that respect, it’s not reading material for the modest-minded. But instead of page upon page of blonde triplets, the French Playboy has fashion! We’re talking Q&As with Viktor & Rolf and Gaspard Yurkievich, and a profile on Lacoste. Plus, the cover girl, shot by Taki Bibelas? A decidedly unbusty Lou Doillon, denim designer and daughter of Jane Birkin, who just happens to be an all-around fashion muse. And did we mention a topless Heidi Klum? It was art, and it was good. Maybe it was just Easter, but we started to see Bunnies hopping into Carine’s territory.

Instead of just bare-assed babes, Le Playboy has actual fashion credits, with a huge chunk going to Vivienne Westwood’s red label. We even spied some Lagerfeld jeans and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. Let’s not forget that the Kaiser himself shot Vahina Giocante in the October 2007 issue. And, sure, there was some interview with Paul Sevigny, but we were still drooling over the photos — for the clothes, people, the clothes. This version of Playboy has plenty of ‘em. Turns out we really do read it for the articles. —Amina Akhtar

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French ‘Playboy’ Turns Us On … to Fashion