Two-Pièce de Résistance: Judit Masco, 1990

I’m not really a breast man, but dang.

Photo: Robert Huntzinger

This photo makes me understand them. These are masterpieces.

The netted top drapes casually and translucently over them, and Judit, apparently just fine with it, tosses us a smile. You can almost see her tilt her head back for a friendly nod as you pass her on the beach. (She’s staying at a neighboring cabin.)

This was over a decade before the great de-nippling of Sports Illustrated, and this is probably the kind of photo that got them temporarily banned in the first place.

The bikini bottom, color-coordinated with the net and the flippers and the bracelet, is a sweet, smooth, yellow triangle. But one fun detail is the twist on the strap above her hip.

In this magazine, swimsuits tend to be form-fitting and pristine. We want the suits, even if they’re not actually painted on, to look painted on.

But here, whether or not it’s intentional, the tiny twist implies casualness.

There’s a companion photo.

Here we see Judit from behind. Maybe we’ve been watching her go back and forth with her flippers and her bag of … dry clothes? Shells? This time, perhaps she’s a little less patient with our stare. Her mouth is caught mid-sentence, as if she’s saying, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

But from this angle we also see her hair, mussed and beachy, tied up with a bandana. The top is a little ragged, now that you mention it. And her bikini bottom is a little loose, ever so slightly saggy, not the shrinkwrap that most SI swimsuits are.

These photos are a teensy bit ramshackle, at least compared to most others. It feels like a beach — not a fantasy beach, but a more visceral one, with the humid air and a mild sunburn and a little sand in your shoes. I think Judit looks a bit more down-to-earth, maybe even touchable, as a result.