Wednesday, May 23, 2012

One-Piece Wednesday: Bar Refaeli, 2008

In celebration of Bar's placing #1 in Maxim's Hot 100 2012, here she is in her homeland.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Curve Your Appetite

Tyra Banks recently wrote an essay on The Daily Beast applauding Vogue magazine’s ban on models who “appear to have an eating disorder.”

She writes: “… the truth is that if I was just starting to model at age 17 in 2012, I could not have had the career that I did. I would’ve been considered too heavy. In my time, the average model’s size was a four or six. Today you are expected to be a size zero. When I started out, I didn’t know such a size even existed.”

2012 rookie Crystal Renn was once a “plus-size model” and has documented her career (and weight issues) in Hungry, her memoir from a couple years ago.
I can’t speak to the influence that SI (and other publications) might have on inspiring unhealthy decisions in girls. It’s worth pointing out that neither Tyra nor Crystal has taken an anti-swimsuit-issue stance; it’s more a critique of an industry that has an unrealistic threshold of what is acceptable (or sexy).

The thing is, while the average weight of the models must be dwindling as the years go by, I have never seen any particular SI model, from the 1970s or from the 2010s, who has struck me as obviously underweight. I don’t know if I have some kind of mental recalibration that goes on in my head that justifies every bikini-clad girl I see, but all those models look good and healthy to me. Except maybe Cintia Dicker.
Girl is skinny.
It didn’t really hit me until 2012, so I looked back to her rookie year in 2009. She’s been skinny the whole time, but in ’09 it seemed a little more fun & natural, instead of near-skeletal.
2009

2010

2011

I don’t know what to make of it, and you certainly can’t tell just from looking at someone whether or not she has an eating disorder. All body types are different, and one person’s unhealthy weight is another person’s natural state. But the skinniness that critics of SI are fond of pointing out has never been so obvious to me than in the form of Cintia Dicker. 2012 is the first time it’s interrupted my appreciation of the swimsuit issue.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012

2013 Already?

MJ Day is at it already, tweeting a couple 2013 previews.
No swimsuit. Just a tube-kini.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Mercredi des «Maillots de Bain 1 Pièce»: Estelle Lefébure et Laetitia Casta

A pair of French filles have their birthday Friday.

Estelle Lefebure turns 46. This photo from 1988 is probably one of my favorites in swimsuit issue history.
It’s so warm and sleek. It had permanent residence on my wall when I was in junior high.

And Laetitia Casta turns 34. In 2000, she took us on a retro tour of swimsuit history, including suits from the 20s:
…the 40s:
…and the 50s:
Laetitia Casta is so French, she was chosen to portray Marianne, the voluptuous emblem of France, in bust form.
Second place? Estelle Hallyday, née Lefebure.

Joyeux anniversaire.