LOS ANGELES—Emma Hix has been named the April 2021 All Star of the Month by Playboy Plus.
The Canadian star is only the third model ever to receive such an accolade, following Emily Willis (February 2021) and Harley Dean (March 2021).
Hix's growing resume includes Penthouse Pet (May 2020), Nubiles Flavor of the Month (November 2020), Holly Randall’s Bombshell of the Month (September 2020), AVN Cover Girl (July 2020), Team Skeet’s first-ever All Star (January 2020), Twistys Treat of the Month (June 2019) and Cherry Pimps’ Cherry of the Month (November 2018).
Cementing her reputation as one of the adult entertainment industry’s hardest working talents, the Playboy Plus All Star honor represents a dream come true for Emma.
“I’ve always wanted to shoot for them!” Hix says. “When I heard they had started shooting adult models for Playboy Plus, about a year ago, I started secretly wishing I’d get that call. ‘You’re gonna be on Playboy’ is the call every erotic model dreams of. And on top of that, they just started the All Star program, and to be the third one ever feels pretty special to me.”
Playboy “is kind of what got me into erotic modeling," Hix continues. "Growing up I always dressed up like a Playboy bunny — I wanted to be a bunny so, so bad! If I saw a Playboy shirt, I’d always get it. It’s such an iconic brand, and I always wanted to be a part of it.”
Emma says that when she’d see these girls in the magazine, she imagined herself there. What she liked is that “all the women were presented in a way that was so empowering. They looked so confident, beautiful, classy, strong. Hugh Hefner was an icon and he treated his girls like gold. You could feel the models were respected and elevated. That’s what I found really attractive about Playboy.”
The moment she was told she’d be the April 2021 Playboy Plus All Star, Emma queued up one of her favorite movies ever: The House Bunny.
“I’ve always loved that movie and I think Anna Faris was so funny — and sexy,” she adds.
Emma’s All Star photo shoot was a true collaboration between Emma and industry photographer Jay Chu.
“The shoot was the product of a long back and forth between me and Jay,” Emma explains. “I initially told them I wanted an outdoors shoot: I’m Canadian and therefore super outdoorsy — it’s my natural environment!”
The original idea — to shoot at ski-themed pictorial — had to be scrapped for logistical reasons, but then the creative team came up with a timely scenario for April.
“April is traditionally the Coachella Festival month, so we decided to head out for the Palm Springs area, which is one of the most beautiful outdoorsy backdrops I could hope for,” the brand-new Playboy Plus All Star says. “We became inspired by the desert spring vibes — there’s a whole Coachella inspiration with body jewelry and cool festival looks that the awesome makeup artist Rosalinda made happen. But I also added a little Canadian touch by incorporating a cowboy hat and boots.”
“You can take the girl out of Canada, but I’ll always give everything the good old British Columbia twist!” Emma laughs.
“Conceptually speaking,” adds photographer Jay Chu, “I wanted to produce three cohesive looks for our shoot with Emma Hix: three different looks that have a narrative thread that connected all of them. With the pandemic, a lot of these spring and summer music festivals have been cancelled. So I thought It would be cool to create a visual narrative of a young woman going to one of these festivals.”
The first look, Chu continues, “portrayed Emma in a classic Palm Springs backyard motif—hanging out at her backyard bar, lounging in the pool, getting a tan. The second look is a stylized visual of Emma as a festival goer hanging out in her camper. And the last look is Emma hiking up to a desert overview.”
Chu admits the shoot exceeded the creative team’s expectations.
“We knew what Emma would bring to this shoot, which is why I wanted to cast her,” he explains. “She brought an energy and an enthusiasm for the work which made the day go by so easily. It's not often you get to work with a model who really knows how to work with the camera. And Emma knew exactly what I was looking for. She absolutely nailed it. She embodied the concept perfectly.”
The shoot took all day, with the team driving out into the desert at 6 a.m. and not returning until late in the evening.
“I don’t care what we have to do to shoot, as long as it’s outdoors,” Emma says. “It worked out perfectly, though, because it looks so good.”
“People will be talking about this pictorial as a highlight of my career,” she adds. “We got it right, as we should — I mean, it’s Playboy!”
