Playboy is (finally) putting their entire archives online at iPlayboy.com, accessible through phone, iPad, and laptop. Yes, the entire archives. Are you drooling yet?

To celebrate, the mag asked some fashion/art/film folk to pick out their favorite images from Playboys of the past for an exhibit which opened last night at Partners and Spade (and lives online too). This group of fashion-y curators included: Simon Doonan, Waris Alhuwalia, André Balazs, and Sarah Shotton, the creative director of Agent Provacateur among others. Unsurprisingly everyone played it safe–less lady bits and more culture.

The party, however, featured large prints of Playboy bunnies on the wall for sale at $1500 a pop. Naturally the retro styles and naked woman were a conversation topic among the trillions of guests. (Seriously, was all of the East Village there to make up for Simon Doonan’s absence?)

There was such a large young crowd, so I did some investigative journalism and ask the guests what makes vintage Playboy so alluring to twenty-somethings today. (Hint: no one said the articles.)

So click through to see the images selected by big shots (plus their commentary from the exhibit) and to find out what motivates contemporary readers to revisit Playboy’s past. (Obvs NSFW)

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