Yes, THAT Hemingway

You may have noticed a couple of shots from the 2019 issue where Anne de Paula and Robin Holzken are posing on trucks labeled “Hemingways.”

This is part of the Hemingways Collection, a trio of luxury, amenity-filled resorts. SI made ample use of their safari experience for 2019’s Kenya shoot.

The name of the resorts is inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s fondness for Kenya, but something tells me Ernest probably roughed it more than this Simba Tent with enormous double bedrooms and on-site butler.

In any case, this truck is not the first Hemingway to appear in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. This is Margaux (née Margot) Hemingway. She was Ernest’s granddaughter.

She’s another Cindy/Amber/Sarah girl: one-hit wonder, and only one photo from that year.

Here she is as she was revealed to readers in 1975, nestled between already-established SI swimsuit royalty Cheryl Tiegs on the left, and rookie superstar-in-the-making Christie Brinkley on the right.

Her story has a sad end. She was mired in addiction, a faltering career, and depression, and she committed suicide in 1996.
 

I have occasionally wondered if she’s the only SI swimsuit model who is no longer living. She might be. I haven’t done any deep research into it, because it would be time-consuming and morbid. But it’s a magazine with over half a century’s worth of models. Margaux just might be the first casualty.

One-Piece Wednesday: Robin Holzken, 2020

Robin has gifted us these beautiful, sleek, stretchy one-piece shots this year.

She also gives us a nice face shot.

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.

Also-Ren

I guess we should talk about Alexis Ren.

She won Rookie of the Year last year. Where has she gone?

For the eight previous officially designated Rookies of the Year, we assumed that the title was a guarantee we'd see the girl again. Whether you came back just once (Sara Sampaio/Kelly Rohrbach/Bianca Balti) or continue to return to this very day (Kate Bock/Barbara Palvin), a ROTY title was always a return ticket.

Alexis Ren is the first ROTY/one-hit wonder.

I don’t know much about her except that she arrived with a full contingent of fans and Insta fame, which she rode to the title.

I think she’s hot. A little straightforward for my tastes, maybe, but you can’t deny that she looks fantastic in a bikini. And she exudes a fun and happy personality that’s great to see.

(I love this bikini on her. Great colors, fun cut. Her best 2018 photos, for my money.)

I wonder what happened. I’m sure at some point the plan was to bring her back. It looked like a mutually beneficial relationship. Scheduling issues? Feud of some sort?

So, who should have won last year?

Raven Lyn gets my retroactive vote. Assuming she’s not coming back after a skipped year or two, I must add her to my ever-growing list of “shoulda-beens.”

Robin Holzken would also make my shortlist, and as a bonus, she actually came back in 2019.

And my dearly mourned Chase Carter rounds out my threesome. I think she had a lot more swimsuit to give.

This week, I plan to rewrite SI swimsuit history with a ROTY retrospective.

Until then, let us say farewell to Alexis.

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.

One-Boob One-Piece Wednesday

What have we here? Another addition to the one-piece-exposing-one-breast collection.

This is from a gif on the SI Swimsuit Facebook page.

Is this Robin Holzken? I think it is... Honestly not sure, but what the heck, here are some nice red one-piecers with Robin in them.

Topless Tuesday: Anne de Paula and Robin Holzken, 2018

Normally we'd be speculating on the cover right about now, but instead the models are trickling in. They're in Kenya now, and yesterday they announced the return of Anne de Paula.

She's beautiful, and I hope she has a better 2019. (I wasn't over the moon about her pics last year.)

Also back is last year's Kathy Irish rookie Robin Holzken, and I'm pretty happy about that.

Fly Chicks

Apparently, January 5 is National Bird Day.

So here’s a Robin, a Robyn, a Ren, a Renn, and a Raven.

See? There's more to this blog than just boobies.

Models Named in Suit

Seven years ago, SI made (nearly) all of the models wear gold necklaces bearing their names.

In 2016, they got out the label maker again, this time in the form of black one-piece swimsuits and only for the rookies.

They took a break from that in 2017, but this year they’re back: rookies with their names emblazoned proudly across their silver, black, or pink one-piecers.

I think it’s pretty sexy that they have their names on their suits. It’s like they’ve all been categorized and displayed for my inspection.

Happy One-Piece Wednesday.