Apples to Oranges

Wandering through eBay, I stumbled on a whole nest of more Kathy Ireland fruit photos.

What fruit turns you on?

Apple?

Orange?

Papaya?

Pineapple?

Grapes?

Watermelon?

Kiwi?

Pomegranate?

There are so many of them that it’s starting to feel less like a weird aberration and more like a fact of life that everyone must be in on except me.

Same Suit, Different Babe

I drew your attention on these pages to the great swimsuit-sharing experiment of 1995.

And later to the recycling of Bar Refaeli’s bikini to Jessica Perez’s body, perhaps as a magic talisman to help Jessica win the 2011 model search.

In 1985, Paulina Porizkova’s shell top also found its way onto Kim Alexis.

(I was amazed to find that Paulina doesn’t sport those shells in the actual magazine—apparently, just in the 1986 wall calendar the following year. I consider it such an iconic Paulina suit.)

In 1990, Ashley Richardson and Rachel Hunter sported what looks like the same shiny, golden one-piece—on the same giant piece of driftwood.

(I discovered Rachel’s pic thanks to photographer Robert Huntzinger’s site, which has some nice swimsuits to browse through.)

In 1991, Stephanie Seymour and Judit Masco both took a liking to this gold bikini.

In 1992, Ashley appeared in one of the weirdest SI photos—I guess her ghost has multiplied itself and is haunting this vineyard?

In any case, several pages later Judit is wearing it at the Salvador Dalí museum.

Also in 1992, Stacey Williams and Shana Zadrick vied for the right to wear this silvery one-piece.

Who can forget this spiderwebby top, shared by Anne V and Bar in 2009?

Julie Henderson and Esti Ginzburg both took this dusty-hued bikini for a spin in 2010.

And the following year, Julie shared this adorable bikini with Hilary Rhoda.

Those are some lucky suits.

EDIT: For a fascinating story of Carol Alt and Christie Brinkley in an inter-magazine swimsuit battle, check out the end of today’s Swim Daily video.

One-Piece Wednesday: Maria von Hartz, 1993

Topless Tuesday: Beri Smither, 1998

One-Piece Wednesday: Angie Everhart, 1992

(I believe it's 1992, based on the Robert Huntzinger photo credit.)

Polaroidian Slip

Swim Daily has taken to running some scans of pre-shoot Polaroids of the models “From the Vault.” These are quick shots to see what the girls look like in the suits before they even set off for the exotic locales

I like them a lot, not least because their most recent gave us some nice photos of Julie Henderson.

I love how casual they are. The women have no clue the photos will ever be made public, so sometimes they’re just standing passively and matter-of-factly, sometimes they’re just smiling pleasantly, sometimes they’re goofing off. Often there is a clothes rack in the shot bursting with bikinis, which is also fun.

And the photos are a refreshing break from the excessive Photoshopping that goes on in the magazine. I suppose it’s possible that SI would bother to touch up these Polaroids, but why? They’re dark and small and grainy photos, so I’m going to assume you’re seeing the honest truth.

I mean look, Julie has a clear bikini-bottom-shaped tan line in a bunch of these!

For me, one of the most heartbreaking photoshoots in SI is Brooklyn Decker’s from 2011. Now I’m no graphic design expert, so I could be way off. But it seems there’s something exceedingly artificial and otherworldly about those shots.

It looks like that level of editing that goes beyond removing a mole or brightening a mouthful of teeth, and into smoothing away pores and adjusting the relative heights of ears and eyes.

I would really like to see the original, untouched photos to see just how much was done to them.

And it’s Brooklyn Decker! She doesn’t need any help being gorgeous! But I think the editors sometimes get carried away, and we wind up with some photos that don’t trust us to recognize what a beautiful woman looks like.

One-Piece Wednesday: Gigi Hadid, 2014

When I hear the name “Gigi Hadid,” I don’t envision a Kate Upton/Kate Hudson hybrid. But that’s apparently what she is.

The Bellazon rumor squad has obtained evidence of a photoshoot with Gigi on a Cape May, NJ beach.

See you in a few months, Gigi!

Topless Tuesday: Louise Forsling, 1998

Happy Birthday, Rachel Hunter

44 today.

She’s a little underrepresented on this blog, and I have a couple regular commenters who are fans. So let’s go ahead and feature a bunch of photos of this kiwi.

New York Bar Association

A couple SI swimsuit shout-outs in the current (9/9/13) issue of The New Yorker.

Adam Gopnik’s book review article “Mindless: The new neuro-skeptics” talks about the slipperiness of trying to explain what the mind is doing and why.

“…there are books on your brain and music, books on your brain and storytelling, books that tell you why your brain makes you want to join the Army, and books that explain why you wish that Bar Refaeli were in the barracks with you.”

And later:

“We’ll be informed, say, that when a teen-age boy leafs through the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue areas in his brain associated with sexual desire light up. Yet asserting that an emotion is really real because you can somehow see it happening in the brain adds nothing to our understanding.”

Well, let’s get some neurons firing on this lovely Saturday.