Scanti-Lui Clad

So France recently had a better election than we did.

I think they also have a better girlie magazine of record.

Lui was founded to be France’s answer to Playboy. They’ve attracted a bevy of A-listers to disrobe, including quite a few girls who had been in SI or soon would be.

The earliest SI girl I could find was my very own Stacey Williams. Her December 1990 issue came out over a year before her Sports Illustrated debut.

No nudity, but some beautiful black and white pics of her getting tattoos on some of my favorite parts of her.

I have a feeling these are fake tattoos, because I don’t think I ever saw one in her subsequent SI photos. However, if you like butt tattoos…

• • •

…the first Lui issue after a long hiatus (September 2013) brought us Isabeli Fontana with a papillon on her derriere.

Longtime readers may recognize some of these June 2014 shots from when I confused Isabeli with Izabel a couple years ago. But for completist’s sake, they are worth revisiting here.

Refresher: This is Isabeli Fontana.

This is Izabel Goulart.

Isabeli and Lui must have quite a crush on each other, as she also makes appearances in July of 2014:

…December/January of 2015-2016:

…and September of 2016:

• • •

The July/August 2014 issue was a cornucopia of my favorite recent swimsuit issue girls. It brought us Emily DiDonato:

…Sara Sampaio:

…and Lais Ribeiro:

Lais also shows up in September 2016:

• • •

Laetitia Casta does what she does best in December/January of 2014/2015: represent France and look hot doing it.

Jinglebeli Fontanaclaus

In today's Advent calendar, Isabeli Fontana gives us a North Pole Dance.

Happy Birthday, Izabel Goulart

UPDATE: It has been pointed out to me that the 2013 photos below are of Isabeli Fontana, not Izabel Goulart. I have no excuse other than early-morning delirious web searching. I'm leaving them up though, because they are beautiful pictures.

• • •

To celebrate her 30th, let’s take a look at a couple spreads she did for Lui magazine.

From 2013:

From 2014:

Both years, she seemed to misplace her bottoms in one or two of the shots.

Happy Birthday, Isabeli Fontana

31 today.

She had this nice, classy, moody spread in GQ Romania back in March.

In other news, there is a GQ Romania.

50 Greatest Swimsuit Models, #50-41

Ah, this should be fun. Swim Daily is counting down the 50 Greatest Swimsuit Models this week. They’re unveiling 10 a day, so they’ve already shown us who’s cracked the bottom of the list.

Thanks, Lexus! And Brooklyn, Tyra, and Kate’s cleavage!

I’ve hastily assembled my 50 favorite, so I can release my picks parallel to theirs.

I expect a pretty significant difference between the lists. First of all, I tend to get obsessed with some fairly unknown models after just one appearance. (Hello Kenza, Jeisa and Lucia!) Also, I suspect SI will stack the top of their list pretty heavily with current models, as a bit of a marketing move. It wouldn’t look very good if their current crop—your Kate Uptons, your Irina Shayks, your Alyssa Millers, your Nina Agdals—couldn’t crack the top 10.

And if you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably already know who my #1 is.

I guess my full disclosure is that the list reflects my personal tastes of the day, with factors like the model’s fame, or number of appearances, or importance in the industry, or legendary status, acting as factors in some undefinable way.

So let’s get to the fun, arbitrary rankings.

50: Lucia Dvorska

Fragile, dark Lucia. Why did we have you for just one fleeting February?

49: Selita Ebanks

48: Laetitia Casta

47: Audrey Quock

46: Jeisa Chiminazzo

45: Anne V

I love Anne's longevity. (She's been identified with some certainty as one of the models in the 2014 preview shots, which would mean she'll be in a record ten consecutive issues.) She's always struck me as a bit more "fashion model" than "cheesecake model," though I quite liked her 2013 shots.

44: Rachel Hunter

A pretty low ranking for a favorite, as pointed out in the comments section. I love Rachel, but she kind of struck me as a solid, reliable presence rather than a superstar. (Though this shot is probably one of my favorite photos in all of SI.)

43: Isabeli Fontana

42: Daniella Sarahyba

How could you deny Her Royal Smileness a spot?

41: Ingrid Seynhaeve