Playboy photographer on dated Hong Kong views about nudity and why some local magazines are offensive
Ruby Law, Hong Kong’s first Playboy photographer, whose Bali shoot features in the current issue of the men’s magazine, says censors should be more worried about the magazine cover images of girls seen on city news stands
Hong Kong’s first Playboy photographer, Ruby Law, has some advice for the city: drop the conservative attitudes towards nudity.
“Modelling agencies here and around Asia have a no-nudity clause in their models’ contracts which is frustrating when recruiting,” says 27-year-old Law, as she parks her huge roller luggage between tables at a coffee shop in Admiralty and orders an iced chocolate.
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Law’s work – a tropical-themed shoot in Bali – appears in the May-June issue of USA Playboy, the American men’s lifestyle magazine founded in 1953 by businessman Hugh Hefner, who died last September aged 91.
Despite the magazine’s global success, Law says people in Hong Kong are shocked when she tells them she’s done photo shoots for Playboy.
“People in Asia are not accepting of what it [Playboy] is. It’s not about nudity but about perception … it’s about how you want to see it.
“People need to chill … they need to take a look at the magazine before saying anything about it.
“If you look at the women photographed for Playboy, you don’t feel uncomfortable but think ‘she’s pretty or she has a nice body’.”