Editor in Chief MJ Day Dished Realities of Casting the SI Swimsuit Issue on ‘Hot Mess With Alix Earle’

Our inaugural digital cover model sat down with Day to chat about the magazine’s progression over the years.

MJ Day and Alix Earle / Taylor Hill/Getty Images and Amy Sussman/Getty Images

The end of 2024 is near, and we’re taking the opportunity to look back at all of the moments that made SI Swimsuit so special during our 60th anniversary year. In case you missed it, take a look at SI Swimsuit Wrapped, which summarizes 31 unforgettable moments that took place this year. Before we set our intentions for 2025, we’re throwing it back to the last 365 days and highlighting several special SI Swimsuit moments (in no particular order), including editor in chief MJ Day’s appearance on the Hot Mess With Alix Earle podcast.

Shortly after she was announced as SI Swimsuit’s inaugural digital cover model and made her Miami Swim Week runway debut in June, Alix Earle hosted editor in chief MJ Day on her podcast, Hot Mess With Alix Earle.

During the conversation, the two women chatted about the evolution of the brand over the past 60 years, and Earle discussed her choice to not have any of her images retouched prior to publish. Day, who started with SI Swimsuit as an assistant in 1998, discussed how much the brand has changed over the last 26 years in particular.

“It’s very different,” Day stated. “When I first started ... it was sort of in like the heyday of publishing. It really still featured powerful women and women that were very famous at the time and looking to build their brands by being a part of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, but it really was really focused on one kind of specific type of woman, where that’s not at all what we’re doing now, so it’s come a long way. I like to speak about it in terms of we’re kind of for everyone now. Back then, it really was specifically targeting the male readership, and now we’re really speaking to women, so it’s changed a lot.”

Day and Earle also discussed the power of social media, the 60th anniversary launch and how the SI Swimsuit photo shoot process works.

“Really the talent is what this issue is all about,” Day added of the magazine. “And we really try and highlight and champion and platform women that are more than just a pretty face. It’s important when I cast to have women in here that represent so many different things—just themselves, but also when you look at the collective whole of the people, everybody’s going to see themselves represented in one way or another.”

Tune in to the full episode, “Beneath the Bikinis: SI Swim,” here, and stay tuned as we continue to reminisce on more moments from our SI Swimsuit Wrapped list in the coming weeks!

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