One-Piece Wednesday: Haley Kalil, 2020

I think this is my favorite one-piece of the year.

Haley’s photos are, for me, a high point of this issue. They're bright and beachy and fun.

She’s definitely jockeying to be my favorite model this year.

Of COVID and Covers

The swimsuit issue started as a way to fill time during the sports-light winter months, and maybe it’s appropriate that this year’s will arrive to distract us from the pandemic.

MJ Day announced that something will be revealed on Good Morning America tomorrow. Will they reveal the cover? I’m not sure what other surprise it could be, but her Instagram message invites us to guess.

Anyway, I think the issue goes live on July 21, about a week and a half from now. So let’s whet our appetites with some of the previews they’ve dropped for us over the last few months.

Perfect Tens

These are my ten favorite SI models who’ve been introduced to us during this blog’s existence (not counting the one-hit wonders, who got their own list).

#10 Haley Kalil (model search 2018, rookie 2019)

(Yep, she’s new, but I have good feelings about her.)

First appearance: March 24, 2018, A Real Camille & Kalil Reveal

• • •

#9 Myla Dalbesio (2017)

First appearance: February 7, 2017, Christie’s Back

• • •

#8 Hannah Ferguson (2014)

First appearance: February 5, 2014, Latest Rookie Reveal: Hannah Ferguson

• • •

#7 Emily DiDonato (2013)

First appearance: February 5, 2013, Countdown: 7 Days to Go

• • •

#6 Bo Krsmanovic (2016)

First appearance: February 14, 2017, Northern Exposure

• • •

#5 Rose Bertram (2015)

First appearance: February 2, 2015, Rookie reveal #3: Rose Bertram

• • •

#4 Hailey Clauson (2015)
First appearance: May 5, 2014, A Bit of a Shayk-Up

• • •

#3 Barbara Palvin (2016)

First appearance: November 18, 2012, Missing the Complexities (several years before she was an SI girl!)

• • •

#2 Lais Ribeiro (2017)

First appearance: February 7, 2017, Christie’s Back

• • •

#1 Sara Sampaio (2014)

First appearance: February 4, 2014, Whaddaya Want, a Rookie?

The ranking is subject to change, depending on whichever recent photos I've seen. (UPDATE: In fact, I just moved Barbara Palvin up to #3. I previously had her at #5 for some reason.) I had to make some tough cuts. Vita Sidorkina and Kelsey Merritt were the last to be dismissed. Sorry, girls, I love you all!

Same Suit, Different Babe: Chase/Haley/Olivia/Barbara

As long as I’ve popped back up …

Chase Carter was one of my favorite 2018 girls. (Dare I hope for another surprise return?)

Here she is modeling for Frankies Bikinis ...

... in a little number I first saw in SI 2019, gracing the body of Haley Kalil.

And speaking of 2019, that year introduced us to Olivia Brower, whom I’d love to see again. Here she is modeling for Indah …

… in a suit that Barbara Palvin showed us in 2018.

ROTY Revisited: 2019

2019: Who won?
Who knows!

Apparently voting has closed, but I can’t find anything about a winner. Maybe it has to do with SI being sold, but there’s not a real concerted effort to promote the magazine this year. There were a lot of whistles and bells, but not a lot of effective hype for the actual product.

Swim Daily is pretty much on autopilot.

It feels a bit like the swimsuit issue might be dissolving before our eyes. Does that sound too melodramatic?

There’s the fact that this year the issue was delayed from its standard mid-February release, with no real explanation. There’s the gimmicks, which could, depending on how on-board and good-faith you are, be seen as desperate. There’s the hugely popular 2018 Rookie of the Year not coming back for 2019.

Then this year’s hype, such as it was, has just kind of sputtered out.

Maybe what everyone says is turning out to be true. In a world where titillation of any intensity is available for free through your nearest screen, the swimsuit issue is a relic. There aren’t enough people like me who have the brand loyalty.

(And for what it’s worth, I haven’t bought a physical copy of the magazine for over a decade. I collect the desk calendars and occasionally grab a commemorative coffee table book. But that’s the only money they get from even me, a superfan.)

So assuming they actually announce a Rookie of the Year for 2019, and assuming there’s a 2020 issue for her to return to …

Who should win?
I am intrigued by Kelsey Merritt. She’s absolutely beautiful. I don’t remember hearing anything about her in the hype (such as it was) leading up to 2019.

I know nothing about her, but those eyes are intoxicating.

The freckles. The freckles are good.

The rest of her? Also lovely.

I’m impressed by Camille and Haley, the two contest winners who’ve had their official coming-out.

But Kelsey is the one who’s stuck in my mind. ’Til we meet again, Kelsey?

Topless Tuesday: Haley Kalil, 2019

A year or so ago, I expressed the opinion that 2018’s two Rookies of the Year were kind of indistinguishable from each other.

I take it back. Haley is a ravishing redhead who gives me some Angie Everhart vibes.

And do I see, dare I say, a touch of Julie Henderson, maybe?

Anyway, she’s gorgeous and befreckled. And there are a couple of shots that stuck out for their lack of photoshopping.

The textures and shadows on her hips…

…and the mild accordioning of her belly…

…strike me as areas that would have been smoothed out, sometimes embarrassingly so, in certain previous issues. The fact that they’re visible in these shots is in line with the magazine’s current mission to promote more honesty in the bodies on display.

Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1992 Part 2

The first full week of May was very fertile. Elle Macpherson presides over the arrival of Hannah Ferguson (3/5) and Olivia Culpo (3/8).

August 6 brought us Haley Kalil, celebrated by Elle and Rachel Hunter.

Ebonee Davis was born November 17 while Judit Masco posed on her boat.