WINTER WONDERLAND
From ski bunny to Playboy bunny, Miss January Karina Marie hits the sauna
Photography by Sasha Eisenman
Imagine the ultimate ski trip-on the sun-kissed slopes of Chamonix, perhaps. Now imagine the ski bunny who would accompany you. Karina Marie is an ace in her ski boots, but she's even better après-after taking them off. "I am in my heart a cozy girl," says the East London native. "I love to travel and ski, but I get bored easily, and then I'm ready to go back to my cabin, pour a lychee martini, light a fire and chill out on a bearskin rug." Preferably au naturel. "I love fashion, and I'm a dangerous shopper, but I don't like wearing clothes at home," Karina says. "I like to kick back and wear, like, a pair of knickers. It makes me feel cozy and sexy." Sexy is something she knows mountains about. Leveraging British reality-TV notoriety at the age of 16 on The Salon, she landed her first magazine cover at 17. Now she has a slew of TV commercials under her belt, plus shoots in Elle, GQ and Arena magazines. "Being in front of a camera gives me a buzz," says Miss January, who will celebrate her month by ringing in the New Year in style. And her Playboy shoot? "Since I love winter but don't like wearing clothes, I felt at home during the shoot. I started off in lingerie and a vintage mink, then got more naked. The only thing that would have made it better would be if God had dropped a man out of the sky for me." And what would she have said to the lucky bloke? "Happy New Year, of course!"
