Photographer Helmut Newton is frequently credited with having introduced sex to fashion photography. Among other feats, he demonstrated the more playful aspects of leather for the unconventional crowd. His book White Women features a photo of a semiclad blonde straddling the prostrate man whom she's energetically suffocating with a pillow. Over the years, Newton has shot a number of subjects for Playboy--among them Nastassja Kinski--but never a Playmate. We were curious about how Newton would view a Playmate, but the question remained, which one? Finally, we settled upon the astounding crew of volunteer Playmates whom you'll see in a new light on the next few pages. And we do mean a new light. In most cases, the Playmates wore almost no make-up and their hairdos have a decidedly unstyled look. Says Newton, "I supervise pretty closely on everything I do; whether I work for Playboy or for Vogue, it makes no difference--I don't like much make-up. I want them to look like real women. Actually, I looked at the last Playmate Review, which showed some of my Playmates--I didn't recognize them." What did the German-born Newton, now based in Monte Carlo, think of the shooting? "I loved doing it. I've been a contributor to Playboy for a very long time and I've enjoyed every minute of it," says Newton, "but I'm not really a Playboy-type photographer. My pictures are often too, er, raunchy for Playboy." He had something different in mind for the Playmates: "What interested me was that most of them came from small provincial towns. They're not like big-city girls, and that's what I like about them. One was even a schoolteacher. I tried to make the shootings look all-American, very Californian. I placed the girls in all-American settings--back yards, a house trailer, Hef's screening room, all the things that attract me. It's like a B movie. I'm a B-movie freak, and some American life is like a B movie." But wait a minute--Hef's screening room? All-American? What about the shot of Christine Richters with Erich von Stroheim in uniform? "It was taken at Playboy Mansion West against a projection of the classic film La Grande Illusion. It's very Hollywood--everybody shows movies at home there," explains Newton. He claims that his Playmates are as varied in personality as are all small-town Americans, but he noticed one key similarity: "They all drive big, smashing cars. I like that very much." Like all great photographers, Newton shoots what he sees--which explains our opening shots, celebrating Barbara Edwards and a big, smashing American car.
