Meet Your Cover Model: Kim Kardashian

The pop-culture icon is adding another accolade to her résumé.

Is there a magazine cover Kim Kardashian hasn’t been on at this point in her career? Well, it’s SI Swimsuit. While the reality star turned entrepreneur has graced Vogue and broke the internet with Paper Magazine, this is the first time the 41-year-old appears in our issue, marking yet another iconic cover for the billionaire. And she was the perfect fit.

View Kim Kardashian's Full 2022 Gallery

Kardashian is not only a powerhouse in the fashion world with her SKIMS shapewear line (one which includes form-fitting swimsuits), but she also uses her fame to bring attention to important causes. In particular, the star lobbies lawmakers—like the president—for prison reform. She’s even successfully gotten clemency for wrongfully convicted inmates and is now studying to become a lawyer to make more of a difference.

“Kim, no stranger to the world’s judgment, continues to live proudly, authentically and unapologetically through the noise,” says SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day.

Kardashian shot the cover in the Dominican Republic with famed photographer Greg Swales. The goal was to make the shoot feel futuristic, matching the looks she’s been wearing in real life. Stylist Danielle Levi requested some striking props like a matte-black motorcycle and a silver surfboard, with the goal of building a story around the swimwear of this woman from the future.

Kim Kardashian was photographed by Greg Swales in the Dominican Republic. Swimsuit by SKIMS. Sunglasses by Balenciaga.

Plus, Kardashian’s longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton and pal/business partner/makeup artist ​​Mario Dedivanovic handled her glam. This was also the Dream Team behind Kardashian’s recent stir-causing Met Gala appearance.

Kardashian is one of four women on the issue’s cover this year—the others are Grammy Award–winning singer Ciara, model/author Maye Musk and model/musician/fashion entrepreneur Yumi Nu—to headline one of the most diverse issues in the magazine’s history.

“The journey we’ve been on—to break out of the mold the world put us in—may sound familiar,” says Day. “It’s certainly familiar to the women we’ve chosen to be our cover models: Maye, Ciara, Yumi, Kim. So in this issue, we encourage readers to see these models as we see them: multifaceted, multitalented—and sexy while they’re at it.”

She adds, “The world may label them one way, but we want to focus our lens on all the ways they see themselves and how they own who they are. No matter your age, whether you’re a new mom, partner, sister, entertainer, athlete, entrepreneur, advocate, student, mentor, role model, leader or dreamer—or all of the above—we want to celebrate these women, their evolution and the many dimensions of who they are.”

Kim Kardashian's 2022 SI Swimsuit Cover photographed by Greg Swales in the Dominican Republic

You can view the 2022 photo shoot for Kim Kardashian here.

You can view the 2022 photo shoot for Ciara here.

You can view the 2022 photo shoot for Yumi Nu here.

You can view the 2022 photo shoot for Maye Musk here.