Apparently not only is there such a thing as French Playboy but it seriously puts the American version—actually, make that America—to shame. While our original iteration of the classic men’s mag is irredeemably cheesy, the French version puts a high-fashion spin on things which elevates it above the onanistic urges of, well, the kind of guys who buy Playboy.
Take the June issue, featuring IMG model Anouck Lepere on the cover in nothing but a pair of platform heels. The knockout Belgian former architecture student is one of our favorite women of all time, seated in the pantheon near a certain girl named Rie. This isn’t much more racy than the kind of stuff that appears in Italian Vogue and such really, which once again raises the question of why we don’t rate the same kind of sophisticated sexiness stateside.
It’s the kind of thing that could one day lead us to bid au revoir to this parochial backwater of a country, and move somewhere that not only has these mags but a goddess for a first lady.
—J.P.S.
