Surfboard Addendum

By the way, once upon a time Quiksilver created surfboards with SI models printed directly on them. No idea if they were ever available for the everyday beach bum.

I’m sure there’s a “perfect 10”/“hang 10” pun to be made here. I leave it to you to complete it.

Thumb-Hook Thursday: Cintia Dicker, 2009

Operation: Bikini Morale continues with these photos of Cintia from Steve Erle's site.

Underboob Monday: Cintia Dicker, 2013

Thumb-Hook Thursday: Cintia Dicker, 2009

Cintia's slim frame is perfect for this slouchy vamp pose. One of her best shots.

Orange You Glad It's Kiss a Ginger Day?

Chin up: We're about a month away from Swimsuit 2018.

The Implications of Skimpification

Here’s a BBC article on the historical shrinking of swimwear, in conjunction with an exhibit at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

I don't care how much fabric is in those suits. These are sexy photos.

• • •

I’ve been contemplating why girls in swimsuits are sexier to me than girls in lingerie. I think I’ve stumbled upon something.

A bikini and a bra/panties combo are strikingly similar. They’re the same size and the same shape, and they cover the exact same areas of a woman’s body. But there’s a philosophical difference.

Lingerie is something a woman strips down to. A bikini is the outfit she puts on. The nearly identical articles of clothing are arrived at from opposite directions.

There’s something secretive about lingerie. In real life, seeing a woman dressed like that means she’s choosing to reveal herself to you in an intimate setting. (Which, make no mistake, is mind-blowingly sexy.)

But a swimsuit is worn publicly. The same amount of skin is shown, but there’s an air of “no big deal, I’m just swimming” about a bikini. I’m not sure I’ve put my finger on it, but it might be that the same level of sexuality is given a fun, everyday, celebratory personality to it.

It might account for that sense of “innocence” I have about the swimsuit issue that gets scandalized whenever a more overtly sexual approach pops up.

PSA: This shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it: Don’t gawk at swimsuit-clad women in public places. It’s a different situation. The models in SI are tacitly inviting your eyes. Women at the pool are minding their own business. Sure: glance, notice. But don’t be a freaking creep.

This is important to me, because I want a world where respecting women and finding them hot are not presumed to be mutually exclusive. And I never want a woman to regret wearing a bikini.

There was a Tumblr blog, now sadly gone, called Fuck Yeah Swimsuit Models. It featured an SI photo per day, sometimes with commentary. I noticed some of the photos were tagged “classic.” I assumed this referred to photos from a certain bygone golden era of the magazine, or possibly to photos the person running the blog particularly liked.

But then I noticed the blog included a definition of the term “classic.” Thanks to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I can share this definition with you:

Classic, as a tag on this blog, refers to a very specific kind of shot: the model is wearing (all of) a real bikini, on a sunny beach. It’s just the original, simple premise of the swimsuit issue itself, no gimmicks or partially-disrobed women. Another way to look at it: classic shots are straightforward enough that they could actually be used by a viewer to judge the swimsuit itself. (As if anyone would ever try to do that.)

Tori Praver, would you demonstrate?

NOT CLASSIC: Missing a top.

NOT CLASSIC: Missing a bottom.

NOT CLASSIC: Missing a beach.

NOT CLASSIC: The suit is a lie.

Classic.

There you have it. The swimsuit, as it appears in the wild.

Swim Trunks

Today’s unforgettable “Animals and Swimsuits” entry: elephants. Mostly real.

• • •

2/15/21: Thought I'd add this Ana Beatriz Barros pic from 2005, for completist's sake.

Grape Expectations

Apparently, it's National Drink Wine Day. I detect notes of gratuitous bikinis.

One-Piece Wednesday: Cintia Dicker Swimwear

Cintia models her own designs.

Happy Birthday(?), Cintia Dicker

There seems to be some confusion as to whether Cintia was born on June 12 or December 6. (I blame the little-endian vs. middle-endian date formats: 6/12/86 or 12/6/86?)

But I’m posting this today, and if I have to post another bikini shot of this slender redhead in June, so be it. Happy maybe 28th!

I Understand It's National Pink Day