From the Archives: 8 Exquisite SI Swimsuit Photos of Christie Brinkley from the 1970s

The model made her debut in 1975 and appeared on the cover three times.

SI Staff | Feb 7, 2023

Christie Brinkley.

Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

When Christie Brinkley made her SI Swimsuit Issue debut in 1975, she had no idea she would soon become synonymous with the brand. She reached a point of cultural relevancy in the early 1980s by pulling off an unprecedented feat: the cover three-peat. No SI Swimsuit model had ever been on the cover twice in a row when longtime editor Jule Campbell put Brinkley on the front of the issue in 1979, ’80 and ’81. (Only Elle Macpherson has matched this consecutive cover trifecta.)

Brinkley nearly didn’t go to her initial SI Swimsuit casting appointment. She had recently permed her hair for a photo shoot in France and was concerned about what she called “her mop.” Her solve: a hat. “When I went for my go-see, I tucked the Brillo pad into a beret,” Brinkley recounted. “Jule Campbell the editor told me as she was doing the final casting that she kept thinking about ‘that girl in the beret.’ It had made me stand out!”

Brinkley made eight issue appearances from 1975 to 2004 and took part in the franchise’s 50th anniversary Legends shoot in 2014. Three years later, at 63 years old, she returned to the Swimsuit Issue, posing with her two daughters, Alexa Ray Joel and Sailor Brinkley-Cook, on location in the Turks and Caicos. Today, Brinkley shares her life on social media, offering anti-aging secrets, magazine cover throwbacks and glimpses of her family life.

Take a look back at some of Brinkley’s most iconic SI Swimsuit images from the ’70s.