NEW YORK (Reuters) - Playboy magazine is offering a new way to lose your shirt on Wall Street.

People walk down Broadway past the Wall Street subway station in New York September 15, 2008. REUTERS/Chip East

The adult entertainment magazine, long famous for its photo spreads of nude women and lessons in living the urbane life of the well-heeled bachelor, is launching a search for models to pose for its upcoming feature, “Women of Wall Street.”

Playboy came up with the idea for the feature after the onset of the global financial crisis, which has vaporized fortunes and left Wall Street reeling. It is planned for the February 2009 edition of the monthly magazine and on its website.

“When the news gets bad, then maybe that’s a chance to make people smile by coming up with something that puts a different twist on it,” said Gary Cole, Playboy’s photo editor.

Playboy and Playboy.com frequently run specials such as “Girls of Olive Garden” and “Women of Home Depot,” but in the past it has garnered attention for big business news themes.

It published “Women of Enron” and “Women of WorldCom” after the companies’ spectacular failures. The magazine ran a “Women of Wall Street” feature nearly 20 years ago.

Playboy is seeking current and former employees of the financial world, and is especially interested in those with more senior job experience.

“It would be more interesting to have someone who’s a financial analyst,” said Cole.

Models must work for a financial institution or have recently worked for one, and prove that they are at least 18 years old.

“How many attractive women do you ... think there are working on Wall Street and the affiliated companies?” Cole said when asked how much success he thought Playboy would have in finding candidates. “There has to be thousands and thousands.”

Playboy likely will photograph about 20 women, he said, adding that compensation would depend partly on how many women apply.

“Whether you offer them $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 a piece, that’s probably not going to change anybody’s mind,” he said. “The reason they do this is because they want the attention, the opportunity, the experience of doing it. It’s not really for the money.”

Playboy is soliciting applications at www.playboy.com/wallstreet