Here’s How SI Swimsuit Rookie Georgina Burke Got Her Start in Modeling

“I’m sitting here and I literally have a view of the ocean. And I got a call 48 hours ago to pack my bags and to head back to New York. I still don’t believe that I am here or that I found out that I [am] a rookie.”

Georgina Burke makes her SI Swimsuit debut this year but is hardly a stranger to the swimwear industry. The Australian model has posed for Polo Ralph Lauren swim, was once the face of Torrid’s swimsuit collection and has her own line of body-positive swimwear, Burke NYC.

Burke, who grew up outside of Brisbane, started modeling 11 years ago, while she was in school studying law. She was discovered while attending a friend’s fashion show. “They had me come in the next day to meet the agency that represented her, but from the get-go they were trying to change me,” says Burke. “I got super skinny and had anorexia.”

Georgina Burke was photographed by Ben Watts in Barbados. Swimsuit by Matte Collection. Top by Montce. Earrings by BaubleBar.

Inspired by the desire to create an inclusive brand and experience that she wasn't seeing in the fashion industry at the time, she decided to create her own line of swimsuits. “I always wanted to find a brand that was size inclusive, size-less in a way,” she says. Burke NYC allows a size to be a guide, less than a directive. The brand’s sizing guide on its website notes: “The smaller the size the more you show. Burke NYC is created for you to wear your way for you.”

Burke found a similar sensibility on the set of her SI Swimsuit shoot in Barbados. She recalls editor in chief MJ Day saying that “if [a suit] doesn’t make you comfortable you don’t have to wear it.” Says Burke: “Nobody does that—we’re [usually] like a coat hanger.”

View the full 2022 photo shoot with Georgina Burke here.