4 Spectacular Photos of SI Swimsuit Legend Tyra Banks in the Bahamas

The model and entrepreneur worked with Laretta Houston for the 2019 issue.

Tyra Banks was photographed by Laretta Houston in Great Exuma, Bahamas. / Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated

A legend of the SI Swimsuit brand, Tyra Banks first posed for the issue in 1993, when she traveled to the Florida Keys. She earned the cover of the magazine three years later, and became the first Black woman to land a solo SI Swimsuit Issue cover in 1997, when she was photographed in Harbour Island, Bahamas.

Over the years, Banks has appeared in eight different SI Swimsuit magazines, most recently this year’s 60th anniversary edition. For the occasion, she was photographed by Yu Tsai in Hollywood, Fla., and landed on one of three group covers following the feature with 26 other brand icons.

Prior to this year’s photo shoot, the 50-year-old model, entrepreneur and producer last posed for the issue in 2019, when she came out of retirement and secured the cover following her photo shoot in Great Exuma, Bahamas with Laretta Houston. This year’s legends feature, she told us on the red carpet of magazine launch events in May, was an absolutely “insane” experience.

“I almost felt like I was dreaming a little bit,” Banks stated. “It’s probably top five days of my career just being around all that [energy], like future legends, icons, legendary amazingness. [SI Swimsuit to] me means life-changing. It changed my life and I knew that when I heard those words, ‘You’re on the cover,’ a long time ago, I knew that my life was going to change and it literally changed overnight.”

In honor of her legendary status as an SI Swimsuit model and her success across industries, we’re throwing it back to a few of our favorite snaps of Banks from her 2019 feature.

Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated

Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated

Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated

Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated