Age ain’t nothing but a number, and we have photo proof.
To live up to its longstanding ‘once a Playmate, always a Playmate‘ motto, Playboy invited seven Playmates from decades past to recreate their iconic cover shoots.
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Not only are the results visually stunning, the ladies’ side-by-side shots provide a stark reminder that, while time passes and trends change, some things never go out of style.
“They remind us that beauty is ageless, sex appeal is timeless and exuberance is eternal,” Playboy says.
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Ready to see these former cover girls back in action? Get ready for your jaw to hit the floor.
Candace Collins Jordan
When eight-time cover girl Jordan, 60, was contacted about the re-shoot opportunity, she recalls the surprising email she received.
It read in part, “We wanted to celebrate the rich and seductive history by looking back at some of our most iconic covers and cover models, and we decided it might be time to revisit them.”
Her reaction? “Well, you could’ve knocked me over with a bunny tail!” she wrote on Chicago Now. “I was thrilled and then terrified and then determined – determined to make this shoot something I would be proud of and also, in a way, let the world know that women of a certain age still have a lot of fight and spirit left in them long after their ’20s disappear.” Mission, accomplished!
Charlotte Kemp
This 56-year-old earned the title of December Playmate in 1982, and when she posed for her first shoot, she recalls that she’d never done any nude modeling and admits she was a virgin!
(No, being a Playmate isn’t all about sex, drugs and Hef.)
Most notably, though, is Kemp’s use of her platform to improve the lives of others. She founded The Playboy Running Team and organized ‘Playmates with a Purpose,’ a group of 10 models who ran marathons to raise money for various non-profit groups.
Lisa Matthews
The 1991 Playmate of the Year, 47, told Playboy about the awkward encounters she had once her shoots were published. “Once [the centerfold] came out, I remember I’d be traveling and people would come up to me,” she said.
The strangers knew her name and would mention they saw her in a ‘national magazine’.
“I’d sit there and say, ‘Oh, which one?’… If you have enough guts to come up and say something, then you’ve got to be able to say Playboy.” Consider that Matthews’ contribution to destigmatizing women’s modeling in the name of art and beauty.
Reneé Tenison
As the first African-American Playmate of the Year, Tenison, 48, remembers controversy surrounding her success, claiming she was being objectified with a nude shoot.
“But I said [to them], ‘Well, if you’re pro-choice, shouldn’t I have the right to choose what I want to do?’” she told Playboy. “I see it as art. Not everybody sees it that way, but that’s how I see it.”
The model posed for the magazine for over a decade, even posing with her identical twin Rosie in August 2002.
Kimberley Conrad Hefner
Nope, the name isn’t a coincidence. Kimberley, 54, was married to Hugh Hefner from 1989 to 2010.
Her 1988 cover reads “The New Woman In Hef’s Life” and though she isn’t his ‘woman’ any longer, she’s actually the reason this re-shoot came to fruition.
Her son, current Playboy chief creative officer Cooper Hefner, said he casually pitched the idea to his mom on Mother’s Day. “A pretty unconventional Mother’s Day gift, but she said yes,” Cooper said on Instagram.
Monique St. Pierre
This 1979 Playmate of the Year began her career as a fashion model, but this sweet and shimmery cover put St. Pierre on the map.
The 63-year-old model and actress says she’s always been a motherly type and used that comforting, nurturing spirit to serve others.
She now runs a recovery house for women struggling with drug and alcohol addiction!
Cathy St. George
St. George, 62, recalls the party held to celebrate her spread as the 1982 August Playmate.
“It was really cool,” she told Playboy. “The song “Centerfold” by the J. Geils Band had come out that month, so when I walked out, all these photos of my face came down from the ceiling to that song.”
Sounds like a dream!
St. George also named St. Pierre as her personal partner in crime, only giving up that “we were bad,” and “I don’t remember most of the eighties.”
