Victoria Silvstedt (born September 19, 1974 in Skellefteå, Sweden) is a Swedish fashion model and actress.
Victoria Silvstedt
Playboy centerfoldappearance
December 1996
Birthplace
Skellefteå, Sweden
Birthdate
September 19, 1974 (age 32)
Measurements
35" 90cm - 25" 63CM - 37" 93cm
Height
1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight
63 kg (139 lb)
Preceded by
Ulrika Ericsson
Succeeded by
Jami Ferrell
Playmate of the Year(PMOY) for
1997
PMOY preceded by
Stacy Sanches
PMOY succeeded by
Karen McDougal
Biography
Silvstedt was a member of the Swedish National Ski Team, ranking as high as fourth among her Olympic teammates in the Super-Giant Slalom. Silvestedt claims that when she was 16, she competed in a Best Fake Orgasm contest at a local bar. The contestants were Silvstedt and 10 guys, and the winner got a brand-new TV. When she came home, she told her mother she won it at a game of Bingo[1].
Silvestedt claims as a sports person she was a bit of a tom-boy who supposedly had never worn high heels, but after a shoulder injury ended her skiing career at 16, her mother and sister secretly entered her into the 1993 Miss Sweden Beauty Pageant. Silvstedt was the first runner-up in Miss Sweden, and went on to represent Sweden in the Miss World contest in South Africa, reaching the final eight contestants. Resultantly, Silvstedt was signed by a Parisian modeling agent and began a career in high fashion, working for various companies including Chanel, Christian Dior, Loris Azzaro, Givenchy, Valentino, and Giorgio Armani.
After being approached directly by Hugh Hefner, she appeared as a centerfold in the December 1996 issue of Playboy and was subsequently named Playmate of the Year in 1997. As a European, not being aware of the wider distribution and publicity effect of Playboy, she suddenly broke into the North American market. She has been featured in almost countless magazines, including GQ, MAXIM, FHM, GEAR and Nuts, where in 2005 she came second to actress Jennifer Ellison in a competition to find the Sexiest Blonde in the World.
Away from Playboy
Like many Glamour models and Playmates before her, she is trying to branch out into acting and business. Silvstedt claims her favorite hobby is singing, and in 2001 she recorded an album called Runaway girl, published by EMI, which sold poorly in most regions except Europe, where it went gold with the hit singles, "Hello, Hey" and "Rocksteady love"[2].
Silvstedt was already well recognised in the UK when she took on a new career hosting, The Late Show on Virgin Radio, and as a guest host on the TV show Eurotrash. She has been in the American TV shows Melrose Place, MTV’s "The Real World," and has worked a lot for the Italian TV hosting several tv shows. In August, 2006, she was the hostess in the French version of the Wheel of Fortune on TF1, alongside Christophe Dechavanne.
Victoria made guest appearances in the Hollywood motion pictures: Boat Trip, The Independent, BASEketball, and "Out Cold;" where she played up to her Swedish-Blonde "Inga" character. Silvstedt is now acting in lead roles in European films mainly based in Italy, and taking to the stage in North America
Silvstedt became a spokesmodel for Guess? Jeans, following in the footsteps of former Guess models, Eva Herzigova, Anna Nicole Smith, and Shana Zadrick. In February 2006 she launched her own lingerie range during London Fashion Week
Personal life
Silvstedt claims that she speaks: Swedish, English, some French, and Italian - plus some Norwegian and Eskimo-Inuit. (Note that Swedish and Norwegian are often mutually intelligible languages.)
Silvstedt married WCBS-TV Sports telecaster, Chris Wragge, in June 2000 at Tuxedo Park Country Club in Tuxedo, New York. The couple currently live on Manhattan in New York City. In June 2006, Victoria and Chris threatened legal action against Sky News for slander, after pictures of her in Sardinia went onto the Internet. Sky News had to remove the page
Playboy
October 1971 coverEditor-in-chiefHugh Hefner
CategoriesMen's magazines
FrequencyMonthlyPublisherPlayboy Enterprises, Inc.
Total Circulation(2005)3,005,753
Year founded1953
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish,
many othersWebsitePlayboy
Playboy is an American adult entertainment magazine, founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., reaching into every form of media. Playboy is one of the world's best known brands. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide. Playboy also delivers hardcore pornography through its television entity, Spice Network.
The magazine is published monthly and features photographs of nude women, along with various articles on fashion, sports, consumer goods, and public figures. It also has short fiction by top literary writers, such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladmir Nabokov, and Margaret Atwood. The magazine has been known to express liberal opinions on most major political issues. Playboy's use of "tasteful" nude photos is classified as "softcore" in contrast to the more "hardcore" pornographic that started to appear in the 1970s in response to the success of Playboy's more explicit rival, Penthouse. Today, Playboy is actually one of the nation's largest producers of hardcore pornography via its 2006 acquisition of ClubJenna Inc.
History
Playboy's original title was to be "Stag Party," but an unrelated outdoor magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner and informed him that they would legally protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner and co-founder and executive vice president Eldon Sellers met to discuss the problem and to seek a new name. Sellers, whose mother had worked for the short-lived Playboy Automobile Company in Chicago, suggested the name "Playboy".
The first issue, published in December 1953, did not carry a date, as Hefner was unsure whether there would be a second issue. It was produced in Hefner's Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used had originally been taken for a calendar, rather than for Playboy. The first issue was an immediate sensation; it sold out within a matter of weeks. Known circulation was 53,991 (Source: Playboy Collector's Association Playboy Magazine Price Guide). The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in Mint to Near Mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002.
The famous logo, depicting the stylized profile of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was designed by art designer Art Paul for the magazine's second issue and has appeared on every issue since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said that he chose the rabbit as a mascot for its "humorous sexual connotation", and because the image was "frisky and playful".
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had a number of stars printed in or around the letter. The legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. The stars, which ranged in number between zero and twelve, actually indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that particular printing.
Since reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy has seen a decline in circulation and cultural relevance because of increased competition in the field it founded — first from Penthouse, Oui, and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response Playboy has attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35 male demographic it once controlled through slight changes to its content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the Playboy Interview.
Christie Hefner, a daughter of Hugh Hefner, became the CEO of Playboy in 1988 and is now also the Chairman of the Board.
The magazine celebrated its 50th Anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event.
Circulation
The best-selling Playboy edition was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter (1/4) of all American college men were buying the magazine every month. On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman.
Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Soderberg) became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the "Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field.
Today, Playboy is still the largest selling men's magazine, selling about three million copies a month in the U.S.
Bans on the sale of Playboy
In many parts of Asia, including India, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei, the sale and distribution of Playboy is banned. In addition, its sale and distribution is banned in almost all Muslim countries in Asia and Africa, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. However, it is sold in Hong Kong. In Japan, where the genitals of models cannot be shown, a separate edition of Playboy is published under license by Shueisha.
An Indonesian edition of Playboy launched in April 2006, but the controversy started before the first issue was published. Even the publisher said that the content of the Indonesian edition will be different from the original edition, but the government was trying hard to ban it by using anti-pornography rules, since the Indonesian government cannot ban any medium. A local Muslim organization, the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), is also opposed to Playboy being published on the grounds that it is pornography. On April 12 a group of about 150 IDF members clashed with police and stoned the editorial offices of the magazine. Despite this controversy, the edition quickly sold out.
In 1986, the American convenience store chain 7-Eleven removed the magazine from its stores. The store returned Playboy to its shelves in late 2003. Curiously, 7-Eleven stores had also been selling "Penthouse" and other more extreme magazines before the ban.
In bookstores throughout the world, it is common for Playboy, as well as other adult publications, to be put on a higher shelf than other magazines, thus keeping them out of the reach of most children. They are also often wrapped in opaque plastic bags so as to not reveal the cover.
Playboy was not sold in the State of Queensland, Australia during 2004 and 2005 but has returned as of 2006. Furthermore, due to declining sales, the last edition of the Australian edition of "Playboy" published was the January 2000 issue.
Litigation
On the January 14, 2004, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s (PEI) trademark terms "Playboy" and "Playmate" should be protected even in Internet searches that prompt pop-up advertisements. The suit originally started on April 15, 1999, when Playboy sued Excite Inc. and Netscape for trademark infringement.
Photographers
Many notable photographers have contributed work to Playboy, including Richard Fegley, Arny Freytag, Ron Harris, David Mecey, Russ Meyer, Pompeo Posar, Suze Randall, Herb Ritts, Stephen Wayda, and Bunny Yeager.
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