Flashback Friday: Kate Upton vs. 1980s-era Swimsuit

Rebecca Shore | May 8, 2014

FORGIVE ME for making you wait for your throwback until Friday, at which point I guess it technically becomes a "flashback." Yesterday was crazy hectic and I've found that being away from my desk, makes it really hard to post things from my . . . desk. All said, I was doing it all for y'all so look forward to some more exclusive content in the near future.

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SI Swimsuit set the bar pretty high back then with (from L to R) Rachel Hunter, Louise Vyent, Michaela Bercu, Anna Getaneh, Maria del Carmen von Hartz, Ashley Richardson and Akure Wall in St. Vincent, 1990 :: Robert Huntzinger/SI

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Self-flagellation aside, this week we pay tribute a popular look of Swimsuits Past, as inspired by to Kate Upton's recent cover shootfor British Vogue.The spread, styled by the mag's fashion director Lucinda Chambers, prompted memories of an era—one which predates Kate Upton for sure—when brands like Body Glove made it fashionable to dress for the beach as if a spontaneous deep-sea diving expedition might break out at any moment. Everything was neon color-blocking and superfluous zippers (superfluous, that is, unless you're Kate Upton doing a fashion shoot, in which case those zippers are a must).

You know by now how much I love poking around in the photo archives, and this shoot was just another chance to bring you some of the amazing stuff we keep buried back there. I've arranged the styles as they correspond with Kate's getups, but I also threw in a few strays that are so good they demand an audience. You'll know the ones when you see them.