How Hugh Hefner changed the magazine world with Playboy

Legend has it that after Esquire magazine denied copy writer Hugh Hefner a $5 raise, he branched out on his own, raising just over $8,000 to create the first issue of Playboy magazine in 1953. Marilyn Monroe graced the cover, fully clothed. The centerfold, however, showed her nude in front of a red drapery - the image shot for a calendar years prior and reprinted alongside lifestyle tips for the modern man. The rest, as they say, is history.

Embodying the Playboy personality, his editorial perspective has heavily influenced both culture and journalism since the magazine's inception.

The gallery above explores the role he's played in the publishing world along with the ways Hefner's empire has shaped photography, art and the way we view the human body.