Down the Rabbit Hole - Holly Madison

CHAPTER 10
“I can’t help it,” said Alice very meekly: “I’m growing.”
“You have no right to grow here,” said the Dormouse.
—Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
I think a jewelry line would be really cute,” I suggested to Darlene, one of the Playboy licensing
department associates. The show’s ratings were high and growing, so it dawned on Playboy to begin
merchandising it—and the girlfriends—to increase profits and capitalize on its popularity before it
was too late. They asked Darlene and some other licensing execs to come speak with the three of us.
“They should be specific to our lifestyle shown on TV,” I continued. “Charm bracelets are really
popular, so how about one with cute charms like a tiny dog, a champagne bottle, a jet . . .” I began
doodling the design on one of the HMH (for Hugh Marston Hefner) monogrammed notepads placed
around the dining room table.
“That’s a really great idea,” she exclaimed, watching me draw the little trinkets on a large link
bracelet. “Wow, you can actually draw.”
At the time, the licensing department was one of the star moneymaking divisions of Playboy
Enterprises. Playboy clothing and accessories had been popular ever since Sarah Jessica Parker
wore a gold rabbit head necklace on an episode of Sex and the City.
And, for the first time ever, the show was single-handedly guiding Playboy into, dare I say,
almost family-friendly, mainstream status. Our show was packaged in such a way that, believe it or
not, many adults were watching it with their kids. The series, though loaded with sexual innuendo,
was so colorful and cartoony that it almost felt more Scooby-Doo than sexy. GND merchandise was a
natural integration. However, Playboy licensing was extremely cautious not to directly associate any
one product with The Girls Next Door in order to avoid owing any sales percentages to the network
(save for the GND book, calendar, and the bobblehead dolls, all of which were things I pushed to
make happen).
Playboy accessories were already big sellers online, through the catalogue and in boutiques, so I
figured jewelry was the smartest fit for our first collaboration. Together with Playboy’s jewelry
manufacturer, I created my capsule collection consisting of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.
When the show was at the height of its popularity, so was the Vegas renaissance—and it quickly
became a popular destination for us on the series. If we were married to the mansion, then Las Vegas
was our mistress. The Playboy Club inside the Palms Casino Resort opened in October 2006, and