Within the Chicago History Museum, a permanent room glowing with pink and purple lights is set up to resemble the famous jazz clubs that were once a cornerstone of the city. Inside, small circular tables are set with chairs for visitors to come in, sit, and relax while they watch projected videos of Chicago’s greatest jazz and blues musicians. Walls are littered with replicas of posters advertising performances by Muddy Waters and Duke Ellington. One wall of this room is entirely dedicated to the Playboy Club. Back dropped by a wall-sized photo of a ‘Bunny’ surrounded by club members, the objects chosen to represent Chicago’s Playboy Club are two plastic swizzle sticks c. 1960-86, a glass and enamel ashtray c. 1970, a key card issued to Howard E. Hight c. 1970, two issues of Playboy Magazine (December and January of 1959), and the centerpiece of the display: a 1972 Playboy Bunny costume worn by 23-year old Chicago Bunny Suzy Leigh. The swizzle sticks, ashtray, and keycard highlight aspects of the club that are ubiquitous with any elite nightlife space. These objects show the Playboy Club as a place for drinking specialty cocktails, uninhibited smoking, and an illusion of superior access and class. Each object carries the iconic silhouette of a rabbit in a bowtie. Without the Playboy logo, these objects are utterly mundane and could belong to any number of clubs. The Bunny costume, however, is unique.
The Playboy Bunny costume is made up of a body suit with interior boned bodice and girdle. The bodice is a deep red satin with a gold trim around the neckline and leg holes. At the hips are laces, tied with a bow, and to the back a fluffy white rabbit tail. The bodice is paired with dyed-to-match heeled shoes (not displayed), cuffs with Playboy logo cufflinks, a men’s shirt collar and bowtie, topped off with a pair of matching red satin bunny ears. On the right hip of the bodice sits a white ribbon with the name “Suzy” in the middle. The costume sits within a glass vitrine on a pedestal. The height of the pedestal is such that the average visitor stands in line with the Bunny, as if Suzy herself is standing before you. But this imagined person is scarcely formed. The bunny ears sit atop a grey metal bar that gives no acknowledgement of a head, face, or shoulders. Suspended by the metal bar is a black torso-shaped form, on which the bodice worn. The space within the bodice is taken up by this abstract form. It is not a display mannequin, a dress form, nor an empty space, but it is adjacent to these. Below this hanging form sit the collar and cuffs on a raised rectangular block. To the left is a panel of text describing the costume as a historical object created by the Playboy Corporation in 1972. The museum’s label lists Suzy Leigh’s measurements, height, and weight, stating that “Leigh was deemed to have the ideal Bunny form.” This description verifies the uniqueness of the costume and thus elevating it. Not only is the Bunny costume a trademark that set the Playboy Clubs apart from its competitors, but this specific costume is a custom made piece worn by only one woman, Suzy Leigh, in one city, Chicago. Furthering the distinctive nature of the Bunny costume, the label goes on to state “in 1964, the Playboy Bunny costume became the first service costume granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office.”
The role of the exhibitor has been carefully considered, but falls short. To balance the descriptive and glorifying aspects of this display, the museum label mentions the work of Gloria Steinem who “working undercover as a Bunny in 1963… met Bunnies who described exploitive and sexually degrading working conditions.” Described as “revealing,” and “submissive,” the Bunny costume is a friend of controversy. In bringing up the critiques of Steinem (and many others with the same feelings), the exhibitor presents a more thorough understanding of this object. And yet the two critical sentences seem to fall short and even perpetuate that which Steinem was protesting. This display is actively erasing the experiences of the women who are most important to the costume’s history: Suzy Leigh and Zelda Wynn Valdes.
Suzy Leigh is mentioned in the museum label, but the only information offered is her age, height, and weight. While these are important facts when considering the custom fit of the garment, they reduce her to a body. To display a garment so personalized to have a person’s name attached to it with no other explanation or representation of them is a pity. It is possible there is no other known information on Leigh, in which case it would be nice to hear the words of other women who worn the Bunny costume.
While there is no singular designer, Zelda Wynn Valdes is credited as the maker of many the Playboy Bunny costumes. Valdes was the first African American designer to open her own shop and dressed entertainers like Josephine Baker, Marian Anderson, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, and Eartha Kitt. Hugh Hefner had noticed Valdes’ ability to make women look glamorous and beautiful, and commissioned her to fit and create the Playboy Bunny costumes for his famous clubs. She worked directly with Hefner and personally with the girls she dressed, but is never mentioned in the museum label. The label gives the impression that “the Playboy Corporation created this costume.” Only a very curious viewer would seek out additional information.
The Playboy Bunny costume was and will forever be an object for looking at. Playboy Clubs, like museums, had a strict “Look, but don’t touch” rule. Just as members of the club would sit at the tables assigned to their favorite ‘bunny,’ visitors to the Chicago History Museum can now come and gaze upon the disembodied uniform of Suzy Leigh. The role of the viewer is the same. However, there are possibilities on the exhibitor’s side that offer a different role. Alternative display apparatuses or textual information could ask the viewer to consider the experience of the wearer. Would they feel objectified or sexually liberated? The ‘Bunnies’ set the Playboy Club apart from all others. No other nightclub space is allowed as much space within the Chicago History Museum. The experience of the club is simulated in this pink and purple lit room. Within the display, viewers see a perspective of the Playboy Club that most aligns with its members. While this seems to be the goal of the surrounding room, it leaves many other experiences unacknowledged. The role of the exhibitor therefore has limited the information available to the viewer.
The Playboy Club Display at the Chicago History Museum, May 22, 2018. Photo by Samuel Snodgrass