Paige Spiranac’s Beauty Evolution Lies in Embracing the Imperfections

The SI Swimsuit legend opens up about how she has learned to feel more secure in her body, how her beauty ideals have changed over the years and more.

Paige Spiranac / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

We determine our beauty, not the eye of the beholder. From an early age, women are judged by their hair, the color of their skin, their clothes and their bodies. Journey with our SI Swimsuit models as they discuss their Beauty Evolution, how they came to accept, honor and embrace their bodies and beauty, and how they are rewriting the narrative on what it means to be powerful, beautiful and who they are meant to be.

Paige Spiranac is many things: an SI Swimsuit legend, a former Division I athlete, a content creator and a golf instructor. The two-time brand star uses her social media platforms (composed of a combined 5.6 million followers on Instagram and TikTok) to share her love of the game while also uplifting other women and encouraging other young creators to be their genuine, authentic selves.

We recently caught up with Spiranac to discuss her Beauty Evolution throughout the years, and learned exactly when the Colorado native feels the most beautiful, how she deals with insecurity and more. Find a snippet of our conversation below.

What does beauty mean to you?

“I always thought that beauty was about perfection and having the perfect symmetrical face and the perfect body and the perfect smile and the perfect hair and I’ve realized over the years that beauty is about the imperfections and the flaws and that is truly what makes people beautiful. Especially when they embrace those imperfections and they have this like inner strength and confidence to them. I think that’s what beauty means to me.”

Paige Spiranac was photographed by Yu Tsai in Hollywood, Fla. Dress by Maria Lucia Hohan. Shoes by Dolce&Gabbana. Jewelry by Melinda Maria and Charlie Lapson. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

How has your definition of beauty changed over the years?

“Being on social media and seeing the ads in the magazines and on TV and really everywhere you go, you’re faced with perfection, and [the idea] that you should always strive for perfection, and it gets really exhausting. You’re always feeling like you’re never good enough, or that you have to make these changes to who you are, and I realized that when I was trying to chase that, and I was making certain changes—maybe it was my hair color [or], I was trying to change my body—that it just created more insecurities and it was a vicious cycle of chasing perfection, feeling more insecure, and for what? For validation from other people? I wasn’t happy with what I was doing and every time I tried to change myself for someone else, it just made the situation worse. I just started to embrace my imperfections ... that make me unique and that make me beautiful.”

When do you feel the most beautiful?

“I feel confident and beautiful when I just finished a workout and I’m feeling accomplished and strong, or when I’m out on the golf course. There’s all these different times in my life where I do feel beautiful, and I feel confident, and I feel powerful. It’s really just a mindset in what you’re doing, and it could be really any time. You could be wearing sweats with no makeup. You could be dolled up. You could be [just as you are] after a workout. Like, it really just depends on your mindset and how you’re feeling in that moment.”

James Macari/Sports Illustrated

How do you deal with feelings of insecurity?

“I think that all women can relate to this feeling of constantly feeling insecure and constantly feeling like you’re not good enough and that you’re comparing yourself to other people. It’s a battle every single day, and when you wake up, you have to choose when you look in the mirror: to embrace those insecurities or to try to overcome them instead of having them overcome you.

“You know, every single day you wake up and maybe there’s a new insecurity or it’s an insecurity you’ve had for your entire life and I’ve realized that doing things that make me feel better about myself, whether that’s going to therapy or working out or maybe limiting time on my phone or focusing on different hobbies, gets my mind off of just focusing in on those insecurities.”

What does it mean to you to be a woman?

“I love being a woman. We’e so lucky. But I think it’s like with everything in life, it’s what you make of it. As women, we are faced with so many unique challenges, and it’s easy to get frustrated or angry by those challenges that we face every single day. But if you have a positive mindset and outlook, you have endless possibilities and opportunities and things that you can do as a woman and use it as a strength to your advantage. I love it. I love being a woman.”

Paige Spiranac was photographed by Yu Tsai in Hollywood, Fla. Dress by Maria Lucia Hohan. Shoes by Dolce&Gabbana. Jewelry by Melinda Maria and Charlie Lapson. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

How have you learned to love yourself and your body?

“One thing that’s been really helpful for me is treating my body right and being really intuitive with the exercise that I do and the food that I eat. I’ve realized that for most of my life, I was trying to reach certain aesthetic goals and maybe I would do so and I would hit that goal, but I didn’t feel good and my body didn’t feel good.

“And so I started looking at it [like], ‘How can I feel better?’ So when I eat good food, I feel great, and when I feel happy, I’m more confident. Or I pick certain workouts that make me feel strong, and when I feel strong, I feel powerful, and in turn, I then feel more confident.”

What advice would you give to a woman who is struggling to feel confident in her own skin?

“It’s O.K. to feel insecure. It’s O.K. to have those feelings, but ... [you have to] continue to fight every single day to work through those insecurities. That is the most important thing.

“One other thing that I have found throughout this kind of self-love journey and trying to feel more confident, there’s been certain moments in my life where I feel really good about myself. I feel that I look good internally, externally, I’m confident and in those moments, those are the times where I receive the most hate and I receive the most pushback and you have to realize that a lot of people who haven’t gone through that journey of self-love and feeling good about themselves, they don’t want other people to feel that way and so they try to dim your light.

“Don’t let anyone dim your light. Don’t let anyone stop you from being confident. That’s one of the hardest things, is allowing yourself to feel confident. There’s no shame in feeling confident. There’s no shame in feeling good and feeling yourself.”