Playboy x Honey Birdette Collab: Every Piece, Price, and the $100,000 Model Search Behind It

“Mia Bailey” isn’t a name I expected to lead with in a lingerie article, but here we are. She won a three-month, 50,000-entry model search run by two brands who wouldn’t say what the prize was actually for, took home $100,000, and now fronts the campaign for the first-ever collaboration between Playboy and Australian lingerie brand Honey Birdette. The thing everyone was guessing about turned out to be the Honey Bunny collection: a limited-edition line of bras, bodysuits and Bunny ears in satin and black velvet, built on the archival Playboy Bunny costume. It launched September 1st and it’s already on shelves.

If you’ve heard the noise and want the actual picture, this is it: what’s in the twelve-piece range, what each piece costs in USD and AUD, where it’s sold (one place, only), and which questions nobody can answer yet. The brands call it a chance to wear “iconic Playboy looks,” which is marketing-speak for a corset bodysuit with a tail. Fine by me.

Are Playboy and Honey Birdette one company?

Not operationally. Playboy acquired Honey Birdette in 2021. They still run as separate businesses with their own shops, design voices, and channels. Playboy owns HB on paper, but this is the first time the two brands have actually worked together in this capacity. Nothing about the drop is an acquisition dressed up as a collab. It’s two labels under one parent, sharing a collection for the first time.

That distinction still matters for how the line turned out. Separate creative houses, one shared drop. Owned since 2021, collaborating like this for the first time.

From archival Bunny costume to new collection

Yes, the collection includes Bunny ears and tails. They run throughout the line, and the bodysuit is explicitly designed to be worn with them. The whole range is built by translating the archival Playboy Bunny costume into pieces you’d actually buy, not by photocopying a 1960s outfit onto modern lingerie.

The mapping is pretty clean once you see it. The ears and tail from the original costume land on a named component, the Bunny Ears & Tail, and fluffy tails and ears run throughout the rest of the collection too. The corseted silhouette of the classic Bunny outfit becomes the bodysuit, structured through the top and bodice. The stay-up stockings of the original get their own version, complete with back seams. And the crystal-draped accessories that sparkled on stage Bunnies become the choker and cuff set, layered crystal chains that flow from the throat and drape over the shoulders. The brands frame all of this as bringing the legendary look into a new era, which is the kind of sentence press releases write for themselves, but the translation logic holds up.

At the light end of the whole exercise: stockings with Playboy Bunny logos and the words “Hop on” printed above the ankle. Thirty-five bucks. That’s the archive-to-product story in its cheapest, cheekiest form.

The three-month model search that announced the collab before it existed

The search was the announcement. For three months before anything official, an online competition offered $100,000 plus the chance to front an unnamed campaign, and details stayed under wraps the whole time. Around 50,000 aspiring models and creators entered, and all that guessing did the pre-launch marketing for free. The brands let the internet speculate its way to launch day.

Mia Bailey: from 50,000-to-one winner to campaign face

Mia Bailey won the whole thing from 50,000 entries. She’s an Australian influencer and reality star, and the prize was the $100,000 plus fronting the campaign for the first-ever Playboy x Honey Birdette collection. The campaign gig is arguably the bigger half of that prize, and it’s hers.

Her reaction on the winning call is worth hearing straight: “Omg I’m shaking… My leg is shaking.” And then: “I cannot thank you enough… This is so far beyond what I ever expected to be a part of.” After a full day on set, she posted a sneak peek on Instagram with a caption for the ages.

Her caption, in full: I fear this is the best I have ever looked.

One pattern worth naming, and I’ll frame it as the usual assumption rather than anything sourced: most people figure these competitions are pre-decided, winner chosen, announcement choreographed. An unknown creator actually winning from a 50,000-entry pool is the tell that this casting was real. If it were rigged, you’d have heard a bigger name attached.

What’s in the Honey Bunny collection, piece by piece

The range totals 12 key pieces, and only six of them have public details and pricing. The other six stay unnamed as of now, and I’m not going to invent them. Here’s each detailed piece and what it’s for.

Honey Bunny Contour Bra

The practical one. Smoothing satin with plush black velvet, and the design detail that matters is a seamless fold-over edge, which keeps the softness up while the rest of the bra handles structure and support. Clean, minimal lines. If you’re buying for everyday wear rather than a costume moment, this is the pick.

Honey Bunny Triangle Bra + String Thong

The matched set, and the opposite pitch to the contour bra, as seen in the Honey Birdette Hole In One collection. Wire-free, with black velvet Playboy Bunny logos, sheer, and adjustable at the back for fit. This is the logo-forward set piece; the contour bra is the everyday support option. Pick based on which job you’re hiring it for.

Honey Bunny Bodysuit

The statement piece, and the closest thing in the range to the actual Bunny costume. Corset-style, with a structured top and bodice and a waistbelt that cinches you in. It’s designed to be worn with the Bunny Ears & Tail, so the full look is a set, not one item. Worth knowing before you budget, especially if you’re scouting sexy couples Halloween costume ideas, where a partner can play the Hefner to your Bunny. The tagline is “Once it’s on, it redefines you,” which is a lot to promise a bodysuit, but it does tell you how seriously they’re taking the costume angle.

Bunny Ears & Tail

A named line item in its own right — the announcement itself calls out “bras, bodysuits and Bunny ears.” The set retails for $120 USD. It’s meant to be worn with the bodysuit, so budget for the pair if you’re going for the full look.

Honey Bunny Velvet Robe

Floor-length black velvet, heavyweight, with satin trims. Layer it over the lingerie or just lounge in it. At $330 USD it’s the priciest piece listed, and the materials are the stated case for it: that’s a lot of velvet.

Honey Bunny Choker & Cuff Set

The accessory play. Layered crystal chains flow from the choker and drape over the shoulders, styled like a showgirl Bunny with Honey Birdette’s own spin. It’s the sparkle in the collection, and at $170 USD it costs more than either bra in the range, which tells you where the crystals sit in the value chain.

Honey Bunny Stay Up Stockings

Playboy Bunny logos, “Hop on” printed above the ankle, classic back seams. Thirty-five dollars is the cheapest way into the collab, and the cheekiest. The wink is the product here; describe it with a straight face and it does the work.

What each piece costs: the full USD and AUD price list

Here’s the full list, six pieces, $35 to $330 USD. Prices are as stated at launch and may vary.

Read the spread as three deliberate tiers: the $35 entry accessory, the $105 to $265 core lingerie (ears and tail sit in that band), and the $330 statement robe. If you’re weighing the bodysuit against the robe, they’re different purchases: the bodysuit is the costume statement and the robe is the layering splurge. On the choker, one small oddity: it carries the widest USD-to-AUD gap in the set, $170 versus $200, while the stockings are flat $35 in both currencies.

Cost check: Budget for the set, not the piece — the bodysuit is designed to be worn with the Bunny Ears & Tail at $120 USD.

The six press-release hero pieces aren’t the whole range. The rest of the collection includes extras like a paddle and candles.

Where and when to buy, and whether to wait

September 1st, and one place only: us.honeybirdette.com/collections/honey-bunny-lingerie-collection, online or in a Honey Birdette store. That’s the whole distribution story. This is not a Playboy-direct drop and it’s not sitting in third-party retailers. One brand’s own channel, period, which makes the buying decision simple: there’s exactly one place this exists.

On waiting: the limited-edition status is confirmed, but no restock plans exist anywhere in the material, and I won’t pretend otherwise. What I can say is the pattern. Limited collabs like this are typically a single production run, so waiting is a risk rather than a plan. That’s not scarcity theater; it’s how these drops work. If a piece is gone, there’s no stated date it comes back.

Buyer rule: On a limited drop with no restock plan, treat hesitation as a decision to skip — the option doesn’t wait for you.

International buyers: Honey Birdette carries the collection outside the US and Australia in Canada, Europe (including France, Germany, and the UK), New Zealand, the UAE, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Check the local Honey Birdette site for stock and shipping before promising anything.

From where I sit, writing for a men’s blog that covers what’s actually worth buying: this is a straightforward purchase or gift decision. If you’re buying for someone who’d wear the bodysuit with the ears and tail, budget for the set. If you want a low-risk entry, the stockings at $35 do it.

Who actually designed it, and what we still don’t know

The Bunny symbols are Playboy’s, but the product copy is pure Honey Birdette: “Hop on” above the ankle, a “showgirl Bunny look,” “once it’s on, it redefines you,” alongside her house codes of classic back seams, crystal chains and satin trims. This is Honey Birdette’s collection wearing Playboy’s iconography, not a Playboy line with a guest brand — which tracks once you know Playboy has owned HB since 2021 and they still operate separately. Still unknown: restock plans, and a few of the twelve pieces beyond the six hero items plus the extras (paddle, candles, etc.) that sit around them.

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