Brand Legends Return to SI Swimsuit for the 60th Anniversary Issue

These incredible models return for the milestone celebration.

Hunter McGrady, Tyra Banks, Lily Aldridge, Kate Upton, Danielle Herrington, Molly Sims, Roshumba Williams, Hailey Clauson, Paige Spiranac, Kate Love, Brooks Nader, Winnie Harlow, Camille Kostek, Brenna Huckaby, Halima Aden, Martha Stewart, Christie Brinkley, Gayle King, Nina Agdal, Sue Bird, Maye Musk, Leyna Bloom, Chrissy Teigen, Brooklyn Decker, Megan Rapinoe, Paulina Porizkova and Jasmine Sanders. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

The Sisterhood is in the house. In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, a tidal wave of glamour and substance has secretly touched down in Hollywood, Fla.

The Legends have arrived, more than two dozen in total, along with their entourages of publicists and social media managers. An aura of badassery fills the inner sanctum of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which has been overrun with photography studios and video sets, glam stations for hair and makeup, and a well-guarded fittings area stocked with a staggering array of bling. 

Right now the action is in the fittings area, where the Legends go to be styled for their portraits, disappearing into dressing rooms with their handlers. All that’s visible are rows and rows and racks and racks of beaded and bejeweled gowns, megawatt jewelry and embellished stilettos—all intoxicatingly glamorous in a palette of sophisticated neutrals (café au lait, platinum, gold, oyster, vanilla, blush).

SI Swimsuit all-stars from back in the day are here, looking flawless—Christie Brinkley, Paulina Porizkova, Roshumba Williams and Tyra Banks—as well as those recently initiated, multihyphenate icons Martha Stewart and Maye Musk, the brand’s oldest and second-oldest cover models, respectively.

Here too is a coterie of SI Swimsuit millennials who over the past decade have represented the brand’s new face of diversity, inclusivity and empowerment, including actress and LGBTQ activist Leyna Bloom, the first transgender woman of color on the cover of the magazine; curve model and body inclusivity activist Hunter McGrady; golf influencer and anti-bullying advocate Paige Spiranac; and Brenna Huckaby, gold medalist Paralympian, amputee and disability advocate. 

Everyone is psyched to see Gayle King, acclaimed journalist, author and television personality, who rocks a swimsuit in this issue with her trademark swagger. King, who is every bit as clever and candid IRL as her on-air persona, jokes that she thought she was “being Punk’d” when asked to be a Legend.

“Every Legend here has greatly contributed to the place where we sit today, which I think is the best the brand has ever been perceived in its history,” says SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day. “The Legends hold the power to represent the collective us. We want longevity, we want success, we want power, we want grace, we want self-love, we want inclusion. We want all these things. The Legends are very much representative of this and have played an important role in the last 10 years leading up to this moment, which to me is very symbolic.”

With the photo shoots and video interviews underway, the Legends bond as cell numbers are exchanged and selfies are taken. The vibe is camaraderie, gratitude, surreal bliss and unapologetic girl crush.

Lily Aldridge gushing over Stewart. Bloom taking mirror selfies with BFF Jasmine Sanders. Brinkley calling all the younger models Legends—including Danielle Herrington, Camille Kostek, Kate Love and Brooks Nader—as they toast with chilled splits of Brinkley’s vegan Bellissima Prosecco. Musk and Banks joking that they’re considering ganging up on Stewart for stealing their spot as the oldest cover star. Fiancées Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe’s loving, wordless exchanges speaking volumes.

The SI Swimsuit Sisterhood is in full force. 

For many of the Legends, the experience is surreal.

“I feel like I’ve been inducted into the SI Swimsuit Hall of Fame,” gushes Kostek, the co-winner of Swim Search, the franchise’s first open casting call, in 2018, and then cover model in ’19. A TV personality, designer and advocate for body positivity, Kostek was inspired by the larger-than-life role models she saw on the pages of SI Swimsuit growing up: “These women showed me that you can be more than a model. These women are moguls, they’re entrepreneurs and personalities. They’re game-changers.”

Nader, a 2023 cover model, won the ’19 Swim Search despite being told by her agents that she “wouldn’t be a good fit” for the brand. The spunky Baton Rouge native, currently developing television projects with her three sisters, aptly captioned her Instagram posts from the Legends shoot with “Pinch me” and “Never give up.”

“Being an SI Swimsuit Legend is about being part of a group that’s not just about beauty. It’s about being kind, smart, unafraid to be yourself, and pushing boundaries where they need to be pushed,” says Nina Agdal, who appeared on the 50th anniversary issue cover with Aldridge and Chrissy Teigen. “There’s a lot of power in unity and supporting each other—embracing and leveraging the collective power of women to challenge and change the status quo.”

Therein lies SI Swimsuit’s true superpower—its incredible ability to break down barriers and be a catalyst for progress. Or in the words of television personality and producer Banks, who has the distinction of being the first Black woman to appear on the cover of SI Swimsuit Issue, in 1997, “Busting down the door so other people can come through”.

The Swimsuit issue has always broken with the established norms of the modeling world. It was initially conceived in 1964 to invigorate SI’s winter circulation, in the doldrums between football and baseball season. German model Babette Beatty appeared on the first cover, frolicking in the waters of Cozumel in a modest white bikini. 

Editor Jule Campbell ignored the waif trend of the day, unwittingly taking the first step towards SI Swimsuit’s now-signature culture of diversity and inclusivity. In 1965, SI Swimsuit became the first publication to identify models by name in print.

A launching pad for new faces, the magazine was instrumental in elevating models such as Banks, Brinkley and Porizkova, as well as Kathy Ireland and Elle Macpherson, to superstar status. Says Day, “It is because of Jule that risk-taking is part of the brand’s DNA.”

Recent years have seen even bolder moves. The past decade of SI Swimsuit has been a juggernaut of change, an inspiring example of how a brand can become a platform for social awareness, empowerment and change. “SI Swimsuit is breaking the mold of what people think beauty standards are, of what beauty should be,” says mom, cookbook author and entrepreneur Teigen. “They’ve always celebrated women as whole [people]. It’s not just this is a beautiful woman to look at, but this is a beautiful person to be around.”

The move towards diversity sometimes saw models come under criticism for their body types, beginning with Kate Upton in 2012. Four years later Ashley Graham had a similar experience when she made history as the first plus-sized model on the cover of SI Swimsuit, which only strengthened the brand’s resolve to become more inclusive regarding the models it featured. Graham’s cover started important conversations on the necessity of expanding the definition of beauty in fashion, becoming the catalyst for the changes to come. 

Brinkley—who made her SI Swimsuit debut in 1975 and was featured on the cover three consecutive years, from ’79 to ’81—made a triumphant return to the magazine in 2017. At 63, she posed in a swimsuit alongside her two grown daughters, inspiring women everywhere to challenge ageism.

SI Swimsuit’s groundbreaking “In Her Own Words” photo portfolio in 2018—which was conceived and executed prior to the #MeToo movement—championed women to reclaim their bodies, own their stories and amplify their voices. Models were given creative control from their poses to the words they chose to describe themselves, which were written across their bodies. Porizkova, McGrady, Olivia Culpo and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman were among those featured in the poignant project, which was photographed with an all-female crew and became a rallying cry for courage and authenticity.

Huckaby, a bone cancer survivor, came in strong as the first disabled model to be featured in the issue, her right leg prosthetic prominently on display on the beaches of Aruba in ’18. “I wanted it to mean something for women with disabilities or who don’t fit the standard of beauty,” says the snowboarder and mother of two. “It was really scary to put myself out there in that way, but seeing the ripple effect of change within the beauty industry has been amazing.”

More glass ceilings were broken when Halima Aden appeared in 2019 wearing a hijab and burkini—a major moment of representation and empowerment for Muslim girls and women around the world. In Aden’s words: “Don’t change yourself, change the game.”

Two years later Bloom became the first transgender woman on the cover.

In 2022, Musk, a veteran model and dietitian, owned her SI Swimsuit cover like a boss at the age of 73. Her appearance, which challenged outdated ageist norms, made her the oldest cover model in the magazine’s history—a title usurped the following year by a certain lifestyle mogul. At 81, Stewart proved that beauty and influence have no expiration date—which, as Martha would say, is a good thing.

Of course, posing in a swimsuit is going to invite scrutiny, and that’s only amplified when a model—like so many who have appeared in these pages—doesn’t necessarily fit traditional industry norms. Says Porizkova, who was 53 when she returned to pose for the “In Her Own Words” feature, “My approach to beauty is f--- you. F--- you that you can’t see that there is a different kind of beauty out there.”

Porizkova came back in 2019 for a shoot on the beach in Kenya. She recalls the day beginning with a group of onlookers excitedly discussing who the model might be—and completely ignoring her as she walked by them in a bikini and full makeup. “Everybody’s like, she can’t be the model, she’s old. Where’s the hot young chick?” Porizkova says with a laugh.

“I feel far more beautiful now than I did when I was 17,” she continues. “I didn’t think about how pretty I was when I was 17. But I am very aware of what I look like now. And yes, there are a lot of aspects that come with age. This is the way a woman in her 50s looks like, and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.”

Preach.

“Nature has seasons, and each season is beautiful for what it is,” Porizkova says. “I’m in a different season. Fall is just as pretty, just in a different way.” 

The Sisterhood has spoken.