Our 5 Favorite Vintage SI Swim Photos of Tyra Banks

From 1993 to 2019, the supermodel has had an enduring partnership with the brand.

Tyra Banks was photographed byWalter Iooss Jr. in New York City.Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

Tyra Banks can do it all. She has been on the cover of countless magazines and served as the executive producer and long-time face of the classic reality television series America’s Next Top Model. But, most importantly, she has earned the coveted cover spot on the SI Swimsuit Issue three separate times, in addition to being featured in the magazine a handful of times on top of that.

In 1993, the legend first graced the pages of the SI Swimsuit Issue in photos from a trip to the Florida Keys with photographer Walter Iooss Jr. Just four years later, Banks made history with her first solo appearance on the cover after her photoshoot in Harbour Island, Bahamas.

When she visited a New York City studio for a feature with legendary brand models in 2014, Banks sat down with us to talk about her history and her personal motivations.

“I remember the first time that I saw the cover that I was on by myself, which to me was the ‘oh my God’ moment,” she said of her 1997 cover. “I was driving up to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit party, [and] there was my cover blown up like two or three stories high.”

She expressed her initial surprise at being given the cover spot, but an enduring sense of pride and joy for the experience. “This was something that I never thought would ever happen—at least, not to me. To be a black woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition ... this is not about color, it’s just about being a female, and Sports Illustrated seeing that and celebrating that. It blew me away.”

Banks’s mission and brand now focuses on “expanding the definition of beauty,” she said. Helping girls to “feel beautiful on the outside and the inside.”

The supermodel returned to the cover of the SI Swimsuit Issue in 2019, featuring photos from her trip to Great Exuma, Bahamas. But today, we’re taking a look back at our favorite photos of Banks throughout her extensive partnership with the brand. 

Below are five of our absolute favorite vintage photos of Banks over the years.

Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

South Africa, 1996

Robert Erdmann/Sports Illustrated

Maldives, Swimsuit 1998

Robert Erdmann/Sports Illustrated

Maldives, Swimsuit 1998

Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

Florida Keys, Swimsuit 1993

Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated

Florida Keys, Swimsuit 1993

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