#10 - Nichole Van Croft

The advent of the 21st century is a perfect place to kick off our top 10, with Nichole Van Croft, Miss October 2000. Nichole was a formidable force in Playboy who came up around a time when great Playmates dominated the scene. The class of 2000 was filled with superstars like (#18) the Bernaola Twins, Suzanne Stokes, Nicole Lenz, Brande Roderick, Shannon Stewart, Neferteri Shepherd, and Buffy Tyler! There were so many impactful Playmates in this one year, it was tough to sort it out and figure out which one should have been PMOY. Indeed, it was a time when Playmates were extremely talented, their bodies were outrageous, and times were great.

One of the things that made Nichole amazing was just how outrageous she was. Unlike any other, Nichole took the big-breasted blonde look and turned it into an immaculate artform. Take a look at her photos, and you see incredible femininity, awesome posing talents, and an uncanny girl-next-door style that's extremely unusual for someone with her body type and looks. Nichole broke the mold, because a girl with 36" DD breasts and a voluptuous 5'5" frame is not supposed to be so charming and worldly. However, Nichole did it with stunning precision, and that's what puts her in the top 10 Playmates of all-time, even beating out great classics. To today, she is remembered as one of the modern heroes of the Playboy revolution of the late 90's and early 2000's because of her daring efforts to bring back the "big body" look that's been all the rage in recent years.

One thing sticks out about Nichole's pictorial: sheer volume. She was a prolific Playmate that photographers just ate up because she could do so many things and still stay fresh. Photos like this classic side shot, which shows off the sheer size of her great breasts. This sweaty, sexual photo is part of Nichole's innate talent because it shows off just how she can use clothing and her moves, in this case her hands, to really pull a photo together. One of the pictorial themes that really endears Miss Van Croft to the masses is her "ice and fan" series, which is just utterly perfect. Nichole drips water down her body in a little sheer top, and Pic 30 is one of the real classics of Playboy lore, with a look to the sky and a truly intimate and sexual moment caught on camera. When Nichole lays down, the intimacy truly reaches a boiling point, and the pictorial heats up. Another one of Nichole's premier photos is her standing photo #40, where her breasts hang and her hair lays over one eye and she strikes a cute smile. It's a true work of art. This showering shot is also a clear showing of just how exotic and unique this seemingly "typical" blonde can get. As she bites on her sheer lace shirt and offers up tons of reasons to put her in the Top 10, and delivers a drop-dead gorgeous shot with a wild stare while squeezing her enormous breasts together, it's easy to see that Nichole Van Croft was a once-in-a-lifetime talent. This photo of her is a great sendoff, kneeling and enjoying the summer heat in a picture that's worth a million words. Just look at that smooth body and shimmering tan. Her final pictorial photo is a bend-over shot that intimates a sense of doggy-style penetration that's awesomely provocative of every naughty desire possible.

If all of that isn't enough to quench your Playmate thirst, Miss Van Croft also had a mean centerfold, which instantly became a classic in 2000. The saucy shot of a zoomed-in Nichole shooting a perfect smile, exposing her colossal breasts, and pulling down her thong on a hammock is a textbook centerfold shot, and one of the best ever.

After scoping out her extensive pictorial and unbelievable centerfold, there's no doubt that Nichole was one of the finest Playmates of all-time. Although she is a relatively recent talent, the sort of impact she's had on the Playboy world cannot be questioned. Today, we see shorter, more voluptuous Playmates with amazingly curvy bodies that hearken back to the "buxom blonde" look of the 70's and 80's. Thank Nichole for a lot of that. She came out after a decade of more "natural" Playmates with more refinement and less regard for what makes the female body so spectacular in the first place: its extremely sexually suggestive features. Nichole had all of that, and awesome posing talent to boot. Certainly a fan favorite for over seven years, Nichole is poised to go down in history for all-time.

Cracking the top 10 is excellent, but we've still got nine more to go. As the competition heats up, which it already has, expect to see more Playmates of this incredible caliber take center stage. These girls all left no doubt that their mark on Playboy history would be ever-lasting. Hope you agree.