Hailey New Year

I just got my desk calendar/planner/diary or whatever for 2019.

Hailey Clauson is on the cover a second year in a row, making her the fifth girl to have a desk calendar cover-repeat, after Heidi Klum (1999/2000), Marisa Miller (2007/2008/2009), Brooklyn Decker (2010/2011), and Lily Aldridge (2015/2016). I think that list establishes Hailey as one of the elites.

She’s in a polka-dot bikini this year, ending a two-year streak of one-piecers (Hannah Davis wore one in 2017). Before that, there was a 17-year gap between Heidi Klum’s 1999 cover and Hannah’s. Bikinis, it seems, still reign.

I’ve expanded my collection of every desk calendar SI swimsuit has published, bringing the total to 30.

THREE DECADES. I’ve been a fan for a long time.

A few years ago (SEVEN ACTUALLY), I bridged the gap between generations of models by opening some of the earlier calendars to the birthdates of the more recent models. It was a fun and instantly aging thing to do. (Sailor Brinkley Cook, who I believe is the youngest SI swimsuit model currently in existence, was 13 and a half when I posted it.)

Good to have you, Sailor.

As I predicted, there are a lot more girls to do that with today than there were back in 2012. I thought I’d take the next few days to update the list.

And to feel so, so old.

Free-Hip Friday: Tori Praver, 2008

Thumb-Hook Thursday: Genevieve Morton, 2014 and 2015

Genevieve is here to prove that a thumb-hook doesn't have to be applied to the bikini bottom...

...but it's always great if it is.

One-Piece Wednesday: Megan Williams

Another Wednesday, another 2016 also-ran. This time, slender Brit model Megan Williams shows us a couple one-piecers for GQ Italy:

...and Agua Bendita swimwear:

...and this, which might be for Guess, but who knows?

Free-Hip Friday: Lujan Fernandez, 1999

One-Piece Wednesday: Daniela Lopez

Continuing my One-Piece Wednesday exploration of model-search girls who might have been, I turn once again to Daniela Lopez, that callipygian Colombian I've lauded on these pages before.

Here she is putting that magnificent posterior to good use in some one-piecers for a Galore shoot.

She gives good sleeve.

Free-Hip Friday: Jeisa Chiminazzo, 2008

One of my under-the-radar favorites.

Thumb-Hook Thursday: Myla Dalbesio, 2018

Happy Thursday, Myla. I'm looking forward to 2019.

One-Piece Wednesday: Caroline Kelley

I recently went down a Caroline Kelley rabbit hole. I wondered if it was worth doing a “where are they now?” series about the model search contestants who DIDN’T win.

You remember Caroline, right? From the 2016 search.

Caroline is … wow. I think we really missed out.

I would lose this ping-pong game.

Anyway, here are some nice one-piecers she wore for the swimwear company Amaiò.

Aaaaaand a couple more tidbits.

I'd love to get my hands on the alternate-universe swimsuit issue with Caroline as a rookie.

Sanders on the Beach

So the new SI rookie is Jasmine Sanders, and I’m holding all of you accountable for not telling me that Noemie Lenoir and Ana Beatriz Barros had a kid.

These photos are from her appearance in treats! magazine from 2015, and they've whetted my appetite for 2019.

Heck, she might even be a good replacement in my heart for my dearly departed Rose Bertram.

Hip to Be Bare

Thought I might add another themed day to the lineup.

One move that a model often pulls that I find pretty erotic is when she unties her string bikini bottom and reveals her hip. She shows you her full side, nude and uninterrupted, from her chest all the way down to her toes.

There’s a nice bit of tantalization going on. As I’ve mentioned before, topless shots are pretty normal, expected even. But there’s just a handful of bottomless shots, and the sexual tension cranks up when the bikini-bottomed area of a model’s body is teased at.

It’s time to celebrate this pose. Topless Tuesday, One-Piece Wednesday, and Thumb-Hook Thursday will hereby be followed by: Free-Hip Friday.

Emily, it is an honor to have you introduce this august tradition.

Come What? May??

Someone on Bellazon noticed this.

According to the SI editorial calendar for 2019, this year’s swimsuit issue is slated for May.

No explanation, no fanfare.

If this is true, the swimsuit issue will not be a glimpse of summer in the dead of winter, or a salve for your Super Bowl hangover.

Maybe it’s just me, but it kind of feels like the swimsuit issue as we know it is slipping away.

But in happier news, Swimsuitologist favorites Myla Dalbesio, Lais Ribeiro, and Barbara Palvin are all back for 2019, whatever month it happens to come out. A few preview shots have trickled in.

Happy Thumb-Hook Thursday to you too, Babs.