India Allen, Miss Playmate of the Year, 1988

Less than a year ago, things weren't working out all that well for India Allen. She was thinking of retiring from the hectic world of modeling without having achieved her goal: getting her picture on the cover of a major magazine. "When you're in fashion and in your 20s, it's all downhill," she reports. At the age of 22, India thought her only chance to save her career was moving to New York, but that meant giving up both the active, outdoorsy California lifestyle she loved and leaving her fiancé, Bill Garfield, a Lawndale, California, veterinarian. Today, however, things are looking up. For one thing, India's dream, gracing the cover of a major magazine—this one—has come true, and her financial worries are things of the past, thanks to the $100,000 check from Playboy Enterprises that goes along with being named Playmate of the Year.

I'm still walking around in a daze," India confesses. "It hasn't hit me yet." Of course, being in a daze didn't stop her from making her first major purchase. She plucks a photo from the pile of papers on her dining room table. "This is the house I bought with the money," she says, showing off a color picture of a two-bedroom home in Lake Arrowhead, California. "It's an oasis in a rat-race," she exclaims. "And it's only two and a half hours away from Los Angeles."

That took only part of the money, India is quick to point out, and she's busy making plans for the rest. Which only shows what a difference a year can make. "I was struggling as a model," she remembers of the not-so-distant past, "but I kept getting work in TV, which was not what I wanted." On one of those TV jobs, she became friends with actress Monique St. Pierre, Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1979. After looking at India's portfolio, Monique personally called Marilyn Grabowski, Playboy's West Coast Photo Editor, who scheduled a test (text concluded on page 132)Playmate of the Year(continued from page 123) shooting. Shortly thereafter, India was Miss December.

"I really didn't have any time to think about it," remembers India. "Normally, when you make that kind of decision—like whether or not to pose nude—you want to think about it for a few minutes. But once I walked through the doors at Playboy, I felt like, This is where I belong. I never had any doubts."

Neither did anyone else in her family. Bill, a physical-fitness buff, was proud of the body India was getting to show off, and her parents, who are divorced, were equally pleased. In fact, India's mother, a full-blooded Algonquin Indian and part-time psychic, had both encouraged her to pose for Playboy and predicted that she'd be accepted. When the pictorial appeared, Mom called. "Do you want to go in with me on an apartment complex in Florida?" she asked. India explained that Playmates don't exactly make that kind of money. "I mean when you're Playmate of the Year," replied Mom nonchalantly.

India and Bill currently share a new house only blocks from the ocean in Hermosa Beach with two dogs (Stinker and Jack) and a cat (Mr. Kitty). It's a life that has virtually no glitzy trappings. For fun, India and Bill ride motorcycles or have small dinner parties for friends, most of whom are other veterinarians or computer whizzes from nearby TRW, the advanced-technology giant. "I don't party and I don't go to bars," maintains India. "And I try not to squander my money. I like to work out and to ride my bike. I like to rent movies for the VCR and I love to cook and bake. I could spend a couple of hours in my kitchen every night making something."

Now that India has been named Playmate of the Year, she and Bill have agreed to postpone their scheduled spring marriage, at least until fall. For the next few months, India's hands will be full with promotions and appearances both for the magazine and for her special Playmate of the Year Video Centerfold, on sale soon. But India insists that nothing, not even being P.M.O.Y., will change her life. "My private life keeps this from going to my head. When I get home from a shooting or an appearance, I still have to find my dogs, take care of my cat and look after the house. I still hang out with the same people and they go out of their way not to treat me any differently."

Bill has been particularly supportive. "I think he's more excited by this than I am," India admits. "Bill's a very secure man. As long as I come home and act like the same person I've always been, he's fine."