The Playboy Playmates of 2016 belonged to one of the most experimental years in Playboy's modern history. After decades of building its identity around the classic nude centerfold, the magazine entered a new editorial phase in March 2016, when Playmates began appearing in a non-nude format. That shift made the year feel dramatically different from the Playboy tradition that came before it. The lineup opened with Amberleigh West in January and Kristy Garett in February, with Garett becoming especially notable as the last Playmate to appear nude in the magazine before the temporary editorial change.
The 2016 roster then moved into Playboy's newly reimagined style with Dree Hemingway, Camille Rowe, Brook Power, Josie Canseco, Ali Michael, Valerie van der Graaf, Kelly Gale, Allie Silva, Ashley Smith, and Enikő Mihalik. Many of these women came from fashion, film, or international modeling backgrounds, giving the year a polished, magazine-editorial feel rather than a purely traditional centerfold identity. Dree Hemingway's March appearance was especially symbolic, as she became the first Playmate of the Month in Playboy's non-nude era, while Camille Rowe and Enikő Mihalik brought a high-fashion sensibility to the year's visual direction.
By the end of 2016, the Playmate image had been pushed into new territory. Brook Power's May feature became particularly important because she would later be named Playboy's 2017 Playmate of the Year, while Josie Canseco, Kelly Gale, and Ashley Smith added strong connections to contemporary fashion and pop-culture modeling. Together, the Playboy Playmates of 2016 captured a rare transitional moment: a year when Playboy tested how much of its identity could be carried by style, personality, beauty, and atmosphere alone. The result was one of the most distinctive Playmate classes of the decade, shaped by reinvention, experimentation, and the tension between Playboy's classic past and its uncertain digital-age future.
