Mo Bunnies Mo Problems

An alert commenter let me know that I’d missed a few SI girls in my list of Playboy appearances.

Lena Kansbod had a cover in February, 1977.

This was a much sultrier shot than her SI cover of the previous month.

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Barbara Carrera had a nice pictorial to tie in with a long-forgotten movie.

The photos are a lot more timeless.

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And Amber Smith made a March, 1995 appearance, just after her two SI issues.

Her photos have a fun showgirl feel to them. That's by design: In her interviews, she says, "For me to be sexy—and this is what I told [photographer] Bert Stern—I need humor and playfulness. I can't do innocence."

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In addition to those three, I’ve discovered that luscious 2017 rookie Kelly Gale also revealed herself in the September, 2016 Playboy, during their Year Without a Nipple.

You don’t have to show everything to stop my heart.

Mercy.

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There may well be more girls who have done both magazines. But this is a good overview.

By the way, here are those hidden bunnies: necklace in mouth, cigarette, feathers in front of left biceps, t-shirt rips by left fingers.

One Last One-Piece Wednesday

A final array of beauties to support my pro-one-piece argument.

QED.

Weekly Planner Week, Part 2

From 1990 to 1996, each week of the desk calendars featured a little pithy/punny comment on that week’s photo, courtesy of Jule Campbell. While looking through them, I noticed that Jule used the exact same caption in 1994 and 1996, right down to the model:

“Ingrid gets a leg up.” (5/23/94, 1/1/96)

There are only so many little puns you can make on the subject of swimsuit models (believe me, I know), so there’s bound to be some repeated sentiments. In consecutive years, she gets a little rhymeful and refers to Estelle Lefebure as “la belle Estelle.”

6/24/90: “La belle Estelle in jungle camouflage.”

3/17/91: “Pink suits la belle Estelle.”

Here are a few more.

5/2/93: “Angie thinks she’s being shadowed.”

6/17/96: “Rebecca is sure she’s being shadowed.”

8/1/93: “Angie plays all the angles.”

8/26/96: “Judit’s got all the angles.”

12/5/94: “Amber on the rocks.”

9/9/96: “Daniela on the rocks.”

9/8/91: “Judit’s tickled pink and isn’t telling.”

12/30/96: “Rebecca is tickled pink.”

11/18/90: “Elle takes the bow.”

4/21/91: “Kathy takes the bow.”

More all week (since I'm sure you find this as fascinating as I do).

Pinups Within Pinups

I get a giddy little thrill when models display their own SI photos at launch events.

It’s almost its own subgenre of photo. “Here I am in eveningwear, displaying a photo of me in a bikini.” 

This puts me in mind of another subgenre that pops up from time to time. “Pinups Within Pinups.” Sometimes the girls will pose with images of other swimsuit girls in the shot.

Sometimes, it’s the same girl. For example, in this photo (I believe from 2004), we see Elsa Benitez posing in a bikini, showing us a photo of Elsa Benitez in a bikini.

Isabeli Fontana has somehow been given a bikini decorated with self portraits in this shot from 2003.

And in this “intimate” video from 2011, Izabel Goulart snaps a bunch of selfies and festoons her body with the Polaroids.

Sometimes the secondary pinup is worn by the SI model. We’ve previously enjoyed Amber Smith’s 1993 bathing beauty tattoo.

Jarah Mariano wears a swimsuit girl pattern on her top in 2008.

In 2009, Jessica Hart wears a bikini bottom, and a shirt with a bikini bottom design on it.

And sometimes, the pinup is just part of the scenery. Like Jessica White and Ariel Meredith on these boats in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Or Damaris Lewis and Genevieve Morton on these planes in 2010.

In 2002, Chandra North and Josie Maran found themselves in some kind of shack wallpapered with local pinups.

And in this preview tweet for 2011, Julie Henderson models what I’m sure is my favorite beer, without my even having to taste it: Bikini Blonde Lager.

I think part of the joy for me is the tacit endorsement. The models seem to be saying, “Yup, pinups of bikini babes exist. We’re cool with them. After all, we are them.”

And if Julie, Chandra, Ariel, and company approve of photos of bikini girls, who am I to feel guilty about enjoying them?

Happy Birthday, Amber Smith

The Rita Hayworth lookalike is 42 today.

This is one of the most blatantly cleavage-baring shots in SI history. Obviously, cleavage is a significant part of the swimsuit issue proceedings, but offhand I could only think of two other shots that were this flagrant.

Elle Macpherson…

…and Stacey Williams.

Pretty good company.