Hailey Clauson Was an Après-Ski Queen in Daring Fur Looks in Finland

The SI Swimsuit legend has posed for the brand eight separate years.

Hailey Clauson was photographed by Walter Chin in Finland. / Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

SI Swimsuit legend Hailey Clauson is practically synonymous with the brand. The model double-dipped in her 2015 debut year, posing for Yu Tsai in Kauai, Hawai’i and participating in a daring body paint feature in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was clear from that very moment she would be a star and she landed on the cover the following year, after her sophomore photo shoot with James Macari in Turks and Caicos. The 29-year-old has posed for the brand for a total of eight separate years, traveling everywhere from Australia and the Bahamas to Barbados and the Dominican Republic.

This year, the Southern California native cemented her status as an SI Swimsuit icon, posing alongside 26 fellow brand stalwarts for a very special group cover feature celebrating the 60th anniversary magazine.

“It’s pretty cool. I can’t believe now I’m a Legend. It feels like I just shot my first year with the magazine. I was 19 the first year I shot for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ... So it’s been a 10-year journey with the magazine. I’ve grown up with Sports Illustrated, and now I get to be in this room with all these women that I’ve admired, women that I’ve grown up with at the same time. It’s a very powerful moment,” Clauson shared while on location for the 2024 photo shoot in Hollywood, Fla. “I love getting older. I think I still have such a long way to go, this is gonna be my last year in my 20s. But I started modeling at 13, so I feel like I had to grow up really fast. I thought I was a woman and grown up—until I actually started becoming a woman and learning what it meant. I think the more you know who you are, the more powerful you are as a woman.”

Today, Clauson, who got engaged to longtime boyfriend Julien Herrera earlier this year, is also the creative director and co-owner of Los Angeles-based boutique modeling agency Margaux. She hopes to use her platform and decade-plus of industry experience to make the modeling and fashion space more diverse, create a “safe space” for talent, and give them all the necessary resources and tools for success.

In honor of the start of Sagittarius season and winter, we’re throwing it back to Clauson’s 2017 photo shoots with Walter Chin in Finland, where she posed amidst the snowy mountains and frigid pristine white landscapes in a series of daring fur looks. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated