A Smithsonian staff member models a genuine Playboy Bunny costume. [1]A Playboy Bunny was a waitress at the Playboy Clubs (open 1960–1988). They wore a costume called a bunny suit inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot, consisting of a corset, bunny ears, a collar, cuffs, and a fluffy cottontail.

Plans for a Playboy Club were begun in 1959. Seeking to maximize on the image Playboy was most famous for, its Playmates, initial talk centred on dressing the Playboy Club's hostesses in revealing negligees and calling them 'Playmates'. But during a night-out, Playboy executive Victor Lownes' then girlfriend, Ilse Taurins, suggested to Hugh Hefner the idea of dressing the hostesses in the image of the tuxedoed Playboy Bunny character. Hefner took some persuading as he had always viewed the rabbit as a male character but once he saw a prototype of the outfit (made by Taurins' mother) he changed his mind. He particularly liked the tail.

The Playboy Bunny outfit was the first service uniform registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. trademark registration number 0762884). The tight costume forced servers to bend at the knees, not the waist, when serving drinks; this maneuver became known as the "Bunny Dip".

Playboy Enterprises required all employees to turn in their costumes at the end of employment and Playboy has some costumes in storage. Rarely such costumes will be offered for sale on the Playboy Auction site or eBay. [2] Some of the costumes on eBay may be counterfeit or stained with bodily fluids. Genuine Bunny costumes in good condition have sold for over $10,000. The only two on public display are in the collections of The Smithsonian [3] and the Chicago Historical Society[4].

The Bunny suit is also very popular in Japan, where it has lost much of its association with Playboy. In fact, it has become associated with sexiness in general, where they are referred to as "Bunny Girls".Bunnies should not be confused with Playboy Playmates, women who appear in the centerfold pictorials of Playboy magazine although a few bunnies went on to become Playmates (see below).

Famous Bunnies

Bunnies who became Playmates

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