The
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by
Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the United States. It was the first magazine with circulation over one...
. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. Inclusion is considered a stick by which
supermodelThe term supermodel refers to a highly-paid élite fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term was elevated to prominence in the popular culture of the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and...
s are measured. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
35 million in advertising. New issues come out around the middle of February or later. First published in 1964, it is credited with making the
bikiniA bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin , leaving an uncovered area between the two . It is often worn in hot weather or while swimming...
, invented in 1946, a legitimate piece of apparel. The issue that got the most letters was the 1978 issue. The best selling issue was the 25th Anniversary Issue with
Kathy IrelandKathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland is an American former model, actress, CEO and designer of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide.-Life and career:...
on the cover in 1989.
Through the years many models, such as
Cheryl TiegsCheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...
,
Christie BrinkleyChristie Brinkley is an American model best known for her three appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early '80s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl and for being the ex-wife of musician Billy Joel.Brinkley has also worked as an actress,...
,
Paulina PorizkovaPaulina Porizkova is a Czech model and actress.-Early life:Born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia, she was still a toddler when her father and mother left Czechoslovakia, fleeing the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, and moved to Lund in southern Sweden...
,
Elle MacphersonElle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman. She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...
,
Rachel HunterRachel Hunter is a New Zealand model, actress and reality TV show host.-Biography:Born in Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand, Hunter began modelling by age 17 and rose to prominence after posing as a Sports Illustrated model in 1989...
,
Valeria MazzaValeria Raquel Mazza is an Argentine fashion model.She was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, and discovered when she was only 16 years old by hairstylist Roberto Giordano. She rose to fame in 1996 when she appeared on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover with Tyra Banks, Guess and presented the...
,
Heidi KlumHeidi Samuel is a German model who is an actress, television host, business woman, fashion designer, television producer, artist, and occasional singer...
,
Tyra BanksTyra Lynne Banks is an American media personality, actress, occasional singer, former model and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo and New York, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
, and
Marisa MillerMarisa Lee Miller is an American model best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, and her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret. After a stint shooting with photographer Mario Testino for fashion magazines like Vogue, Miller began working for both companies...
, have been featured on the cover. Other models within its pages, but not on its cover, include
Cindy CrawfordCindy Crawford is a former American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...
,
Stephanie SeymourStephanie M. Seymour is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, and Gilles Bensimon...
,
Angie EverhartAngela Kay "Angie" Everhart is an American actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Everhart was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of Ginnie, a homemaker, and Bob Everhart, an engineer. The fifth child of six siblings, having four older brothers and a younger sister, she began modeling when...
, and
Naomi CampbellNaomi Campbell is an English supermodel.-Early life:Campbell was born in Streatham, London, England. Her mother, Valerie Campbell , is a former ballet dancer of Afro-Jamaican descent...
. The eight models featured on the cover of the 2006 issue were featured in a coffee-table book called
Sports Illustrated: ExposureSports Illustrated: Exposure is a collection of photographs taken by photographer Raphael Mazzucco in the summer of 2005...
. Photographed by
Raphael MazzuccoRaphael Mazzucco or Rafael Mazzucco is a former professional soccer player and a Canadian fashion, art and music photographer who shoots in various countries around the world. He is a native of , Canada who is based in New York. Although his studio is in New York City, his home is in...
, and produced by Diane Smith, the unprecedented "reunion shoot" featured 139 pages of unpublished images. In 2006, the issue expanded publishing to
handheld deviceA mobile device is a pocket-sized computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input or a miniature keyboard. In the case of the personal digital assistant the input and output are combined into a touch-screen interface...
s. In 2007, the swimsuit issue was first available in China.
History
The swimsuit issue was invented by
Sports Illustrated editor Andre Laguerre to fill the winter months, a typically slow point in the sporting calendar. He asked fashion reporter Jule Campbell to go on a shoot to fill space, including the cover, with a beautiful model. The first issue, released in 1964, entailed a cover featuring
Babette MarchBabette March or simply Babette, who is now known by the name Babette Beatty, was the first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model...
and a five-page layout. Campbell soon became a powerful figure in modeling and molded the issue into a media phenomenon by featuring "bigger and healthier" California women and printing the names of the models with their photos, beginning a new supermodel era. However, the issue did not exclusively feature models until 1997. In the 1950s a few women appeared on the cover of
Sports Illustrated, but the 1964 issue is considered to be the beginning of the current format known as the Swimsuit Issue.
Non-models in the magazine
Several female athletes have appeared, though not on the cover.
Steffi GrafStefanie Maria Graf is a former World No. 1 female tennis player from Germany.Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
appeared in 1997. In the 2003 issue, tennis player
Serena WilliamsSerena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and current World No. 1. She has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association on four separate occasions...
and figure skater
Ekaterina GordeevaEkaterina Alexandrovna Gordeeva is a Russian pair skater. Together with her late partner and husband Sergei Grinkov, she was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion.-Biography:...
were featured inside the magazine.
Anna Kournikovais a retired Russian professional tennis player and model. Her celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis players worldwide...
appeared in an inset on the 2004 cover, and had a photo spread within its pages.
In 2005, Olympic gold medallists
Amanda BeardAmanda Ray Beard , is an American Olympic-level swimmer and model. Beard participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2008 Summer Olympics, capturing a total of seven medals, the most recent in the 2004 games. She held the world number one ranking of 200...
and
Jennie FinchJennie Lynn Finch , or occasionally using her husband's surname, Daigle, is an American softball player who pitches for the USA softball team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and she won a Silver medal for USA softball in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Although she is listed on the...
, along with
Lauren JacksonLauren Elizabeth Jackson is an Australian professional basketball player. She is often called LJ or Loz. She is a forward/centre with the Seattle Storm of the WNBA, the Australian national team The Opals and, until 2006, the Canberra Capitals of the Australian WNBL...
and
Venus WilliamsVenus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions; as of October 19, 2009, she is ranked World No. 4...
, were featured.
Maria SharapovaMaria Yuryevna Sharapova is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player and three time Grand Slam singles champion...
appeared in an inset on the 2006 cover and had a spread inside. In spring 2006,
Sports Illustrated chose music as the theme for the 2007 issue. Senior editor Diane Smith wanted 10-time Grammy-winner
Beyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé Giselle Knowles , often referred to mononymously as Beyoncé , is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
to pose. In 2006, Beyoncé launched a swimsuit line under her
House of DeréonThe House of Deréon is a ready-to-wear fashion line introduced by singer and actress Beyoncé Knowles and her mother/stylist Tina Knowles. The style and concept is inspired by three generations of women in their Creole family, with the name "Deréon" paying tribute to Beyoncé's grandmother, Agnèz...
clothing label. Beyoncé Knowles became the first singer, and first non-model, to appear on the cover in 2007.
In 2008, NFL cheerleaders appeared for the first time. Teams include the Buccaneers, Chargers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Jaguars, Patriots, Raiders, Redskins and Texans.
Race car driver
Danica PatrickDanica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, currently competing in the IndyCar Series, as well as a model and advertising spokeswoman. She was raised in Roscoe, Illinois. Patrick was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season...
appeared in 2008. She was featured in a four-page spread set in
Singer Island, FloridaSinger Island is located in the east central region of Palm Beach County, Florida. It is part of Riviera Beach, in the South Florida metropolitan area. The latitude of Singer Island is 26.784N. The longitude is -80.037W, the easternmost point of Florida...
.
Reception
To many, the magazine is an acceptable exhibition of female sexuality not out of place on a
coffee tableA coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
. Recent editions have mixed the modeling with a tribute to sportsmen. The swimsuit edition is controversial with both moralists who subscribe for sports news content as well as those who feel that the focus on fashion and swimsuit modeling is inappropriate for a sports magazine. Also feminists have expressed that "the Swimsuit Issue promotes the harmful and dehumanizing concept that women are a product for male consumption." Subscriptions have been canceled by subscribers when it arrives. The 1978 edition, remembered for its fishnet bathing suit made famous by
Cheryl TiegsCheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...
, resulted in 340 cancellations.
Sports Illustrated makes the controversy a form of entertainment with the issue two weeks after the swimsuit edition packed with complainants such as shocked parents and troubled librarians. Recently, the number of cancellations has declined. Nonetheless, to avoid controversy, its publisher
Time WarnerTime Warner Inc. is the world's largest entertainment conglomerate , as well as the world's fourth largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City...
, did not deliver the special edition of the magazine to many subscribers in 2007. Now,
Sports Illustrated offers its subscribers the option of skipping the swimsuit edition for a one issue credit to extend their subscription by a week.
On the cover
Both the 2008 and 2009 covergirls were announced on
Late Show with David LettermanLate Show with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and bandleader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra,...
.
Cover history
Most covers by model
| Model |
Number of covers: issues |
Elle MacphersonElle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman. She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...
|
5: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 2006 |
Christie BrinkleyChristie Brinkley is an American model best known for her three appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early '80s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl and for being the ex-wife of musician Billy Joel.Brinkley has also worked as an actress,...
|
3: 1979, 1980, 1981 |
Kathy IrelandKathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland is an American former model, actress, CEO and designer of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide.-Life and career:...
|
3: 1989, 1992, 1994 |
| Cheryl Tiegs Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...
|
3: 1970, 1975, 1983 |
| Daniela Pestova Daniela Peštová is a Czech model. She was born in Teplice, Czechoslovakia, and was discovered by the Madison Modeling Agency's Dominique Caffin. She had plans to attend college but after winning a modelling contest she moved to Paris to sign with Madison Modeling Agency...
|
3: 1995, 2000, 2006 |
| Paulina Porizkova Paulina Porizkova is a Czech model and actress.-Early life:Born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia, she was still a toddler when her father and mother left Czechoslovakia, fleeing the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, and moved to Lund in southern Sweden...
|
2: 1984, 1985 |
Tyra BanksTyra Lynne Banks is an American media personality, actress, occasional singer, former model and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo and New York, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
|
2: 1996, 1997 |
Rachel HunterRachel Hunter is a New Zealand model, actress and reality TV show host.-Biography:Born in Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand, Hunter began modelling by age 17 and rose to prominence after posing as a Sports Illustrated model in 1989...
|
2: 1994, 2006 |
Rebecca RomijnRebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former model . She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her role as Alexis Meade on the hit show Ugly Betty.-Early life:Romijn was born in Berkeley,...
|
2: 1999, 2006 |
| Elsa Benitez Elsa Benítez is a Mexican model.-Career:Benítez began modeling after winning an international model search in Costa Rica in 1995. She subsequently began modeling in Mexico, the United States and Europe...
|
2: 2001, 2006 |
| Yamila Diaz-Rahi |
2: 2002, 2006 |
| Veronica Varekova |
2: 2004, 2006 |
| Carolyn Murphy Carolyn Murphy is an American model.-Biography:Carolyn Murphy was born in Panama City, Florida and grew up mainly in Northwest Florida, with brief periods in England and Maryland, as a result of her parents’ divorce. Her career began when at the age of 16, when her mother enrolled her in a...
|
2: 2005, 2006 |
Locations
The swimsuit issue was once predominantly shot in one country per year. As the issue has grown in size, the number of locations has also increased.
- 1964 - Cozumel
Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite the Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. It is one of the nine municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...
- 1965 - Baja California
Baja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
- 1966 - Bahamas
- 1967 - Arizona
The State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale.Arizona was the 48th and...
- 1968 - French Polynesia
French Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
- 1969 - Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
- 1970 - Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
- 1971 - Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are occupied by two countries...
- 1972 - Marina del Rey
- 1973 - Bahamas
- 1974 - Puerto Rico
- 1975 - Cancún
Cancún is a coastal city in Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo, on the Yucatán Peninsula. Cancún is located on the Yucatan Channel that separates Mexico from the island of Cuba in the Greater Antilles....
- 1976 - Baja California
- 1977 - Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the United States' 17th largest island. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai...
- 1978 - Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
- 1979 - Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar...
- 1980 - British Virgin Islands
The British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S. Virgin Islands...
- 1981 - Florida
Florida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
- 1982 - Kenya
The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
- 1983 - Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
- 1984 - Netherlands Antilles
The Netherlands Antilles , previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles and consists of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea: Curaçao and Bonaire, just off the Venezuelan coast, and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located...
- 1985 - Australia
- 1986 - French Polynesia
French Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
- 1987 - Dominican Republic
- 1988 - Thailand
The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.It is bordered to the north by Laos and Burma, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Burma...
- 1989 - Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Seychelles, Kenya, Lake PowellLake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona . It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing 24,322,000 acre feet of water when full...
, KauaiKauai or Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago and the 21st largest island in the United States...
, St. Barts
- 1990 - The Grenadines, Windward Islands
The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the West Indies blow east to west...
- 1991 - Cruise theme - Turks & Caicos, Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
, St. Barts
- 1992 - Spain
- 1993 - Alaska
Alaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, Florida KeysThe Florida Keys are a cluster of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the...
, Mackinac IslandMackinac Island is an island covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European exploration began...
, Martha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island off the south of Cape Cod in New England. The islands both forming a part of the Outer Lands region....
, OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the State of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
- 1994 - Pool theme - Southern California
Southern California, or SoCal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers around three major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area with over 12 million inhabitants, the San Bernardino-Riverside...
, ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
, Florida, Bali, PantelleriaPantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, 100 km southwest of Sicily and just 70 km east of the Tunisian coast...
, SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
, St. Maarten, Mexico, Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
- 1995 - Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 kilometres northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1,350 kilometres south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada...
, Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
- 1996 - South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
- 1997 - Bahamas, Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a small sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern central coast of the Mediterranean Sea, having a land border on three sides only with France, and being about away from Italy. Its size is just under 2 km² with an...
, VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
, Mexico, MalibuMalibu is an incorporated city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population is 12,575....
- 1998 - Equator theme - Maldives
The Maldives , or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching along north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago...
, Kenya, IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Galápagos IslandsThe Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador...
, EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
- 1999 - Necker Island
Necker Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean, north of the Tropic of Cancer, located at . It is part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, located northwest of Nihoa and northwest of Honolulu, and is part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge within the Northwestern Hawaiian...
, Guana IslandGuana Island is an island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. One of the few remaining privately-owned islands in its part of the world, Guana has seven white powder-sand beaches and of tropical forest, mountains, hills, and valleys...
- 2000 - Pacific theme - Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, Oahu, Maui, Mexico
- 2001 - Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
, Greece, Italy, Bahamas, Las VegasThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada. A small portion of the Strip lies in Las Vegas, but most of it is in the unincorporated areas of Paradise and Winchester...
- 2002 - Latin theme - Mexico, Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
, Costa Rica, Brazil, ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, Spanish HarlemSpanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a predominantly low income neighborhood in Harlem, a neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States, in the north-eastern part of the borough of Manhattan. Spanish Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in...
- 2003 - Barbados
Barbados , situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent West Indian Continental Island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. For over three centuries Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom; and still currently maintains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state...
, Kenya, TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, Florida Keys, Colorado, VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
, GrenadaGrenada is an island country and sovereign state consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the...
- 2004 - Montauk, New York
Montauk is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 3,851...
, Saranac Lake, New YorkSaranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 5,041. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
, MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
, WyomingWyoming is a state in the Western United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountain West, while the easternmost section of the state includes part of a high elevation prairie region known as the High Plains. While the tenth largest...
, Arizona, IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
- 2005 - Bahamas, Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras...
, CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
, ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Thailand, Costa Rica, BelizeBelize , is a country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language...
- 2006 - Hollywood, Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The island had a population of 178,133 inhabitants according to the August 2007 census. This makes it the most populous island of French Polynesia,...
, Las Vegas, ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
, Bahamas, Palm SpringsPalm Springs is the name of two places in the United States of America:* Palm Springs, California* Palm Springs, Florida* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs areaPalm Springs is the name of one place in South Africa:...
- 2007 - Music theme - Florida, Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
, Jamaica, Brazil, Maui, Grambling, LouisianaGrambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,693 at the 2000 census. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, Los Angeles, Arizona, Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
- 2008 - St. Petersburg, Russia, Singer Island, Florida
Singer Island is located in the east central region of Palm Beach County, Florida. It is part of Riviera Beach, in the South Florida metropolitan area. The latitude of Singer Island is 26.784N. The longitude is -80.037W, the easternmost point of Florida...
, Saint John, U.S. Virgin IslandsSaint John is an island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. St. John is an exclusive travel and honeymoon destination with several resorts and one of the top ten beaches in the world. It is also...
, MauiThe island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the United States' 17th largest island. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai...
, NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
, Cayman IslandsThe Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
, Turks & Caicos, IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
- 2009 - Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Canary IslandsThe Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the...
, The Grenadines, NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
, TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
Television specials
Beginning in 1995, Sports Illustrated began distributing television specials based on the issue, titled '[Year] Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special'. The hour-long specials have aired on
Spike TVSpike , a division of MTV Networks, is an American cable channel designed for an audience described demographically as "young adult males". The channel began life as The Nashville Network , founded by WSM, Inc...
and TNT and
MinisodesThe Minisode Network is a Sony Pictures Television internet television network launched in June 2007. The term minisode is a portmanteau of "mini" and "episode." Unlike webisodes, which are initially broadcast on the internet, minisodes are condensed versions of previously broadcast, full length,...
of several specials from 2002-2004 are available on
CrackleCrackle is country-limited multi-platform web television network and studio, administrated by Sony Pictures Entertainment and formerly known as Grouper...
.
For January 2005,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
produced the
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model SearchThe Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search is a reality TV show produced by NBC that debuted in January 2005, prior to the launch of that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue....
, a reality TV show documenting twelve previously-unknown
fashion modelsthumb|200px|Alesya Nazarova modeling a dress by [[bebe stores|bebe]]A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed for the purpose of displaying and promoting fashion clothing or other products and for advertising or promotional purposes or who poses for works of art.Modeling...
as they competed against one another over five weeks for the grand prize: a pictorial in the 2005 edition of the
Swimsuit Issue and a modeling contract with
NEXT Model ManagementNEXT Model Management is a modeling agency based in New York City and Paris. Founded in 1989 by Faith Kates, this agency is known as one of the largest modeling networks in the world, NEXT competes some of the world's finest agencies including Elite, IMG and Women.NEXT is also recognized for...
worth one million US dollars.
Alicia HallAlicia Hall is an American model and winner of NBC's 2005 reality TV show Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search.- Biography :...
won the competition.
External links