Swimsuit

Alix Earle Explains the Decision to Walk the Miami Swim Week Runway With Her Sisters

The SI Swimsuit June digital issue cover model vlogged the experience for the latest episode of her ‘Hot Mess’ podcast.

Ananya Panchal

Izabel, Ashtin, Alix and Penelope Earle.
Izabel, Ashtin, Alix and Penelope Earle. / John Parra/Getty Images

Alix Earle was recently named SI Swimsuit’s first digital cover star. Shortly after she wrapped up her June issue photo shoot with Yu Tsai in Florida, the 23-year-old TikTok sensation opened the brand’s runway show during Miami Swim Week at the W Hotel South Beach on June 1.

She also had the “surreal experience” of getting to strut down the catwalk with her younger sisters, Ashtin, Penelope and Izabel.

“I was so scared the first time going out, but then the second time I went around, I got to go out with my sisters, which was so, so incredible that MJ and the team invited my sisters to come walk with me,” the New Jersey native shared on the latest episode of her podcast, Hot Mess With Alix Earle. “I had Ashton, Izabel and Penelope, and that time was just so much fun. We were just skipping, jumping, and that was like, so special for me, and something that we'll never, ever forget.”

On the episode, Earle also sat down for a lengthy, profound interview with SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day. The women spoke about how the brand has evolved over the decades, what it means today, why Earle was chosen to be featured on the cover of the first digital issue, and how much of a “sisterhood” the SI Swimsuit family truly is.

“A lot of people online were like, ‘This is so disgusting. How could you have your little sisters walk in the Sports Illustrated show?’ I think if you actually understand what MJ is saying in this episode about the brand and how it evolved, it’s not what it was 10, 15, 20 years ago,” Earle continued. “This is just a fun moment with all these girls, and we’re having a good time. It’s my family, they were there to support me. They wanted to come out and walk with me. It’s just like a good event of women supporting other women and lifting each other up, and we had the best time ever. My little sisters after were like, ‘I can’t believe we just did that. That was so much fun.’ They were so cute.”

The content creator, who is dating NFL player Braxton Berrios, added that while she herself is used to criticism online and can handle it, she never wants her little sisters to see rude comments.

“They’re so young, and that’s just something that I want to protect them from,” she said. “Can everyone just be happy and normal and nice and let like, a happy family moment be?”

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Ananya Panchal
ANANYA PANCHAL

Ananya Panchal is a writer on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit in 2022, she worked at Bustle, the San Francisco Chronicle and the TODAY Show. When she is not writing or doom-scrolling on social media, Panchal can be found playing sudoku, rewatching One Tree Hill or trying new restaurants. She's also a coffee and chocolate (separately) enthusiast. Panchal has a bachelor’s in communications and journalism from Boston University.

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