Does Playboy still exist? Take a look at these nostalgic Playboy Bunny photos of iconic brand that was launched with $1k loan

In 2025, Playboy still exists but the controversial brand has been under attack for decades, particularly since stories emerged following the death of creator Hugh Hefner. While the print magazine stopped publishing regularly in 2020, it's been announced that it will return as an annual publication in 2025.

Playboy also continues to operate through its online platform, Playboy Centerfold, and has expanded into other areas like licensing and digital content.

It all started with a bang when Marilyn Monroe agreed to feature as covergirl for the first edition of Playboy in December 1953. It was founded in Chicago by Hefner and his associates, with help from a $1,000 loan via Hefner's mother

And while the women may have won fame, it was the men who made the real money. At the peak of his success in the mid-1990s, Hefner was worth $200 million. At the time of his death, he was worth $43 million which was to be divided among his children Christie, David, Marston and Cooper as well as his widow Crystal Harris who was 31 at the time.

Here’s our pictorial rewind of how Playboy became such an iconic brand from as far back as the 1960s ...

The young women were famous for their outfits and easily recognisable by their Bunny ears and tales. There are Bunny girls at London's Playboy Club in 1968.

Heff and his Bunnies were always the centre of attention. Here the boss of the Playboy Empire arrives with an entourage of Bunny Girls at London Heathrow Airport, 1966.Heff was in Britain to officially open his 16th Playboy Club, located in Park Lane, London.

Don’t let anyone tell you the Bunnies weren’t clever. Here they are at Playboy Club Bunnies School where they learnt how to become a bunny girl in 1968.

They also drink pints! Youngest Bunny Girl, Serena Williams, 18, of London's Playboy Club, invited her two Bunny girl friends for a short holiday in Glorious Devon at her parents' home in Plymstock, during which they planned a visit to their tiny local, the old King's Head Inn. The girls decided to give the locals an unexpected treat by turning up in their Bunny costumes to help serve the beer in 1966. The young locals in the background look a little perplexed.

And they understand a clever political play. It was a case of top coats on and umbrellas up for Bunnies outside the Playboy Club in Park Lane as they braved the rain to help form picket lines. They were on strike as the management did not agree to recognise their Union The Transport and General Workers Union in 1974.

We all recognise those two! Fulham's captain Alan Mullery and Trevor Brooking of West Ham United went to the Playboy Club to collect their good luck kisses from their Playmate fans Shelley and Zee in 1975.

And him! George Best with Playboy Bunnies at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London, 1977.

London's Playboy Club Bunny Girls made their own private collection of £127 to donate for toys to the Gt. Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Richard Scott, aged 7, was the centre of attraction when the Bunny Girls were giving out their Christmas toys in 1969.

Michael Crawford, star of the upcoming film 'The Games' during filming at the Playboy Club. Michael plays the young athlete who wins a cross country race. After the race he celebrates his win at the Playboy Club. Here he is enjoying the high life with all the girls around him at the gambling table, 1969.

John Conteh before his fight at London's Wembley Pool for the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship of the world against Argentinian Jorge Ahumada. Conteh paid a visit to London's Playboy Club after his training.

Bunny Girls from the Playboy Club in London visit Bunny, a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England, 1966. This picture shows ... Bunnies at 14th Century Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.

Hugh Hefner arrives at Heathrow Airport in his private DC9-30 jet, the "Big Bunny" during a grand tour of his empire. On board with him were Jet Bunnies dressed in all black wet-look uniforms, and they were met at the airport by British Bunnies, 1970.

The Playboy Mansion was the centre of its own reality show but Hugh Heffner’s reputation quickly went downhill as soon as he died with horror accusations from many of the women who lived there.

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