Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1996, 1997, 1998

This rounds out all the models I know of who were born during the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Desk Calendar years.

In 1996, Vendela stretched out in a pretty white one-piece and welcomed 2018 rookie Alexis Ren on November 23.

1997 brought us two more 2018 rookies: Robin Holzken (April 19, welcomed by a silver-bikini'd Rebecca Romijn)...

...and Chase Carter (June 10, welcomed by a sand-duned Manon).

And finally, in 1998, Taylor meets Sailor! Sort-of-2018-rookie Sailor Brinkley Cook arrived on July 2, welcomed by Niki Taylor in a pretty green bikini.

And Sailor, who as of this writing is 20 years, 38 weeks, and 5 days old, is the youngest SI swimsuit girl in existence.

That record may be broken in about a month and a half, when we have the full rookie class and all their disturbingly recent birthdays.

Happy Birthdays, Niki, Julie, Bregje

It’s the rare swimsuit birthday trifecta. March 5 brought us three lovely models, one in 1975:

…one in 1986:

…and one in 1993:

Thanks, March 5!

Seals with a Kiss

Time for another “Animals and Swimsuits” entry. Enjoy some girls with seals.

Dogs. Goats & sheep. Parrots. Camels. Donkeys.

One-Piece Wednesday: Niki Taylor, 1999

UPDATE: I thought this was from 1998, but a sharp-eyed commenter pointed out that it's probably from 1999.

Confirmed.

Missing the Complexities

Complex.com just listed their 100 Hottest Supermodels of All Time. As you might imagine, nearly half of the list is made up of SI girls. There are a lot of obvious names (your Elles, your Christies, your Marisas, your Tyras, what have you), but I thought I’d call out a few deeper cuts, some girls who don’t get as much exposure on this blog as they should.

Yasmeen Ghauri (#92)

Carolyn Murphy (#76)

Daniela Pestova (#72)

Angela Lindvall (#49)

Selita Ebanks (#17)

Niki Taylor (#12)

Each model has a series of icons at the bottom of her page, including “SI Swimsuit Issue Certified” to designate ladies who’ve appeared in the swimsuit issue.

Unfortunately, it’s not used with a great deal of accuracy. For one thing, they left that icon off Cindy Crawford’s listing.

That’s understandable; she had one photo in one issue, and her fame was largely independent of SI.

But more oddly, they apply this icon to six models who have never appeared in SI.

Doutzen Kroes (#80)

Alessandra Ambrosio (#24)

Miranda Kerr (#18)

Linda Evangelista (#9)

Gisele Bundchen (#6)

Claudia Schiffer (#5)

What do you think? Should these ladies have been in SI?

I normally don’t find myself wishing that models I know from elsewhere would appear in the swimsuit issue. But I have to admit, there are a couple of Victoria’s Secret models I just recently discovered who would make lovely additions.

They are Barbara Palvin:

…and Candice Swanepoel: 

Maybe on some future hot girls list, that little icon will be lucky enough to appear under their photos.

Red or Blue?

If you’re in the U.S., make sure you vote today.

Show Us Your Tats

Niki Taylor is getting some tattoos removed, in particular this one on her arm.

"I am removing it because it is stopping me from getting some work I think," she says, adding that the removal is more painful than childbirth.

Lots of other SI models have had tattoos removed, though in a much less painful way—good old-fashioned airbrushing. While Stephanie Seymour’s right-ankle tattoo (which she got sometime between her 1989 and 1991 appearances) remains visible in one or two photos:

Happy 44th birthday to Stephanie, by the way.

…well-inked models like Jessica White and Cintia Dicker have their tattoos mysteriously disappear:

In 1999, curiously, Sarah O’Hare’s shoulder slashes did not appear in the printed magazine, but did appear in the online photos.

And Amber Smith’s bikini-girl leg tattoo, so very visible in non-SI photos…

…was obliterated in print:

One-Piece Wednesday: Niki Taylor, 1998